Va. Senate passes bill to limit AG's power

The Democratic Virginia Senate approved legislation that would rein in the power of the state’s Republican attorney general to issue civil investigative demands, akin to subpeoenas, in the wake of AG Ken Cuccinelli’s pursuit of University of Virginia documents related to the climatologist Michael Mann.

“We have numerous legal issues in the commonwealth which requires the attention of the people’s lawyer, the Attorney General,” said Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax. “We don’t need him sorting through the trash cans of our university professors in order to foment litigation.”