Dear Friends and Virginians:
First of all, Happy Mother’s Day to all, but especially to my mother Mary Petersen (three kids, ten grandkids) and my wife Sharon Kim Petersen (four kids …).
Love you.
Secondly, Sharon and I have spent the past week in Seoul, Korea where I’m on a teaching assignment at “The Global Legal Studies” program at Sogang University, which is a Jesuit school in the heart of the City.
On Saturday, I gave a lecture on the First Amendment and religious freedom in America. I started with the history of dissenters immigrating to the new world to escape persecution in Europe; then focused on modern cases involving school prayer, access to public funding, and ownership disputes over church property (i.e. the very issue I just argued to the VA Supreme Court)
Summary: government cannot prefer any religion through its public policy, nor can it unilaterally exclude religious bodies from enjoying public benefits.
Here’s a picture of our class, along with me, Sharon and Ida
While in Korea, we also visited the Incheon campus of George Mason Korea to participate in “Mason Days.” Live music, sack races and a buckin’ bronco ride, which I did not survive.
Of course, the big news is the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision to strike the “10-1” referendum result for not meeting the process under Article XII of our state Constitution. Quite simply, the initial legislation must be passed prior to the “next election” of the House of Delegates. In this case, the initial bill was passed on October 31st, 2025, after a million votes had already been cast for the November 4th state elections. That was enough for four justices to pull the plug. Let history be the judge.
In my humble opinion, this entire fiasco could have been avoided if the Governor, having won her office by 17 points, had told Assembly leaders from Day 1 that she would not sign off, thus avoiding the issue altogether. But instead we got $110 million in TV ads and a nationwide “race to the bottom” …
And, yes, the decision by President Trump to spend $12 million to get rid of Republican lawmakers in Indiana who defied his call to redistrict is far worse. (First rule of ice hockey and state politics: if a fight breaks out, don’t punch your own players).
As to the latest idea to change the judicial retirement age to “54” and thus throw out the four judges, that will not save anything. Any legal change, assuming it was passed in the next few weeks, would not take effect until July 1, 2026. Then you’d have to elect four new justices.
The deadline to rehear the SCT opinion is June 7, 2026 and that petition must be approved by a judge who initially voted against it.
So this is a final verdict. (And, by the way, the SCT tipped its hand when it denied the Republicans’ injunction back in February – and referenced the flaws in the proposed amendment).
The entire “10-1” redistricting episode has been an embarrassment, akin to the COVID19 shutdowns of 2020-2022. In many ways, the loudest advocates were the exact same people who were desperate to keep schools closed and kids wearing masks because they were …. “standing up to Trump.”
Otherwise, the less said about it the better. We need leaders in this state who are not obsessed with Trump or partisanship. It’s getting tiresome.
JCP Notes: Big news in the upcoming week. My law firm is sponsoring a Happy Hour on Thursday, May 14th for Old Glory RFC at The Auld Shebeen Pub in Fairfax City. We’ll send out details in a couple days.
The Happy Hour is a lead-in for the match on Sunday, May 17th, which will feature an undercard match of Virginia Cardinals RFC v. Alexandria Roosters in an old boy showdown. Stay tuned to this channel for further details!
Peace,
Chap