President Barack Obama yesterday nominated Justice Barbara Keenan of the Virginia Supreme Court to the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Virginia’s two U.S. senators, Democrats Jim Webb and Mark R. Warner, had recommended Keenan. “Her commitment to fairness and judicial integrity has been unwavering throughout her career . . . ,“ Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

Politicians are to be expected to propose solutions in search of a problem. But it’s surprising to see the judicial branch doing so. Last year the General Assembly passed legislation permitting the courts to shield the identity of jurors in certain cases for good cause. An advisory committee established by the Supreme Court of Virginia to promulgate rules for doing so took that modest and sensible proposal and ran off the cliff with it: The committee has suggested anonymizing all jurors in all criminal trials—something that would do serious harm to the principle of open government and public access.

If adopted, a proposal to keep the names of jurors confidential, at least from the public, in all criminal trials apparently would make Virginia unique in the country. It is not clear if a defendant in Virginia ever has harmed a juror. That possibility is one of the concerns behind a law the General Assembly passed last year. That law permits judges to keep jurors’ identifying information secret from all but the lawyers in a case—even from the defendant—when a judge finds good cause there is a “likelihood” of bribery, tampering, or physical injury or harassment to jurors.

A proposal to keep jurors anonymous in all criminal trials is under consideration by the Virginia Supreme Court. The Advisory Committee on Rules of the Court is proposing to keep confidential jurors’ names, ages, occupations, telephone numbers, addresses and other identifying information. Jurors would be assigned numbers by the clerk of the court for use in open court during jury selection and the trial.

Virginia’s U.S. senators have recommended that President Barack Obama nominate Justice Barbara M. Keenan of the Virginia Supreme Court to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If nominated by Obama and confirmed by the Senate, Keenan would be the first woman from Virginia to serve on the federal appeals court, which serves Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina.

The Virginia Supreme Court has struck down Virginia Beach’s noise ordinance as unconstitutionally vague, in a decision that could have wide repercussions. Yesterday’s 13-page ruling stemmed from a challenge by the owners of The Peppermint Beach Club on Atlantic Avenue, which was repeatedly warned and cited by police for music sound levels in violation of the ordinance.

Anticipated rulings in the long-running death penalty case of Daryl Renard Atkins and an effort to require all Virginia Lottery retail outlets to be handicapped-accessible will not be issued until June or later by the Supreme Court of Virginia.

An environmental group took its fight against a $1.8 billion coal-burning power plant in Wise County before the justices of the Virginia Supreme Court yesterday. Cale Jaffe of the Southern Environmental Law Center told the high court it’s unconstitutional to require that the plant be in Southwest Virginia coal fields and be able to burn Virginia coal because those requirements favor one state’s coal over another’s.