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Senate Confirms Four Gubernatorial Nominees, Including Judge Jessica Gallivan
Summary
The 36th Legislature approved four governor’s nominees — including the renomination of Judge Jessica Gallivan — and forwarded the confirmations to the governor after unanimous or near‑unanimous roll calls. Senators praised nominees’ qualifications and urged timely submissions for other vacancies.
The Senate voted on June 4 to confirm four of the governor’s nominees to judicial and regulatory posts, including the renomination of the Honorable Jessica Gallivan to the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands.
Senators recorded affirmative roll calls for Gallivan and three other nominees — Carolyn P. Herman Purcell to the University of the Virgin Islands Board of Trustees, Winston M.A. Williams to the Virgin Islands Board of Contractors, Trades and Crafts, and Kirk Cowwood (also written as Kirk Calwood/Cowwood in the record) to the Banking Board — and the clerk said each nomination will be forwarded to the governor for final action.
Senator Alma Francis Hiliga, who spoke at length in support of the slate, said she had “seen her work” and called Gallivan “doing an excellent job as a judge.” Multiple colleagues echoed that assessment during a round of bipartisan floor statements, pointing to nominees’ professional backgrounds and local ties.
Gallivan addressed the chamber after her confirmation, thanking colleagues and naming family members who supported her. “You, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory and the one who lifts my head,” she said, reading a passage she described as a personal reminder; she also singled out her daughter, Carrie Evita Currence, a rising law student.
The confirmations followed the clerk’s reading of the day’s agenda and a committee‑of‑the‑whole vetting process that senators said provided adequate review. Several senators used floor time to press the governor to send additional nominees to fill vacancies on the parole board and other commissions.
The Senate’s action on the nominations concluded the first block of the day’s agenda and cleared the body to take up zoning and other bills.
What’s next: Each confirmed nomination will be transmitted to the governor for any further required action; the Senate moved on to consider multiple zoning measures and the second block of legislative bills later in the day.
