RICHMOND, Va. (WDBJ) - The Supreme Court of Virginia overwhelmingly elected a new Chief Justice on Tuesday, August 26, the Virginia State Bar announced .

Chief Justice-elect Cleo E. Powell will be the first African-American woman to serve on the bench for the first time in the court’s history and will succeed Chief Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, who is set to retire effective, January 1, 2026, said the bar.

Chief Justice-elect Powell was first elected by the General Assembly to the Supreme Court of Virginia in 2011 and was re-elected in 2023. Before that, she served as a judge on the Court of Appeals of Virginia, as well as the 12th Judicial Circuit Court and the Chesterfield General District Court, according to the bar.

Before the bench, she practiced labor and employment law, was corpo

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