Judge declines to rule on constitutionality until threshold question on the General Assembly’s four-fifths emergency vote is resolved.
PURCELLVILLE, Va. (May 7, 2026) — A Loudoun County Circuit Court judge on Thursday continued a hearing on whether Vice Mayor Carl Benjamin “Ben” Nett should be suspended from his seat on the Purcellville Town Council, after defense counsel raised a threshold question about whether the new state law underlying the suspension action is in effect at all.
Visiting Judge Randy I. Bellows of Fairfax County continued the matter until May 28, telling the parties he could not rule on the constitutionality of the Second Enactment Clause of Chapter 1022 of the 2026 Acts of Assembly until it was clarified whether the law’s emergency provision had taken effect and whether the General Assembly satisfied the four-fifths vote required for emergency legislation under the Virginia Constitution.
Special Prosecutor Eric L. Olsen filed the motion to suspend Nett on April 27. Nett’s attorney, Ryan Campbell, filed a motion to dismiss arguing that the law amounts to an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder. At Thursday’s hearing, however, Campbell pressed a separate argument that has now moved to the front of the case.
The four-fifths question
Campbell argued that the law cannot be enforced against Nett because the legislation did not receive the four-fifths vote from each house of the General Assembly that the Virginia Constitution requires for a measure to take effect on an emergency basis. Without that supermajority, Campbell argued, the law would not become effective until July 1, the default effective date for legislation passed during the regular session.
Campbell pointed to Article IV, Section 13 of the Virginia Constitution, which establishes both the standard July 1 effective date and the four-fifths emergency exception. He also cited a provision of Article V — the article governing executive powers — in support of his argument about the procedural posture of the bill following the governor’s involvement.
It is undisputed that both houses of the General Assembly took affirmative action on the bill before April 1. The dispute is over whether that action met the constitutional threshold for emergency enactment.
Olsen countered that the motion before the court was not whether SB 648 is a law at all, but whether the suspension provision contained in its Second Enactment Clause is constitutional. He urged the court to proceed to a hearing and decision on the Bill of Attainder question, which had been the focus of the parties’ written filings to date.
Why the threshold question matters
Judge Bellows ultimately agreed with Campbell that the threshold question must be resolved first. If the law is not in effect because the General Assembly failed to satisfy the four-fifths requirement, the constitutional question of whether it amounts to a Bill of Attainder may not need to be reached at all. The court declined to rule on the constitutionality of a provision that may not yet be law.
The continuance gives both sides time to develop the procedural record on how SB 648 was passed and whether the emergency clause was properly enacted. The parties are expected to return to court on May 28.
Background
Nett, a sitting member of the Purcellville Town Council, has been at the center of overlapping civil and criminal proceedings for more than a year. In April 2025, a group of Purcellville residents filed a citizen petition seeking his recall, alleging conflict-of-interest violations and other misconduct in office. Similar petitions were filed against Mayor Christopher Bertaut and council members Carol Luke and Susan Khalil, though those have not moved forward.
The Nett recall trial began in April 2026 in Loudoun County Circuit Court. After five days of testimony and roughly ten hours of deliberation, a seven-member jury returned a mixed verdict on April 27, finding that Nett had committed certain violations but declining to remove him from office.
Separately, Nett has been indicted on multiple felony charges, including allegations of bid rigging and misuse of a law enforcement database. Town Manager Kwasi Fraser faces related charges. Trials in the criminal cases are scheduled for October and December. Nett has not been convicted of any criminal offense and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Senate Bill 648 was sponsored by Sen. Russet Perry, D-Loudoun, during the 2026 General Assembly session and signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger on April 22, 2026. The bill applies to towns in Planning District 8 with populations between 8,000 and 10,000 — a description that fits Purcellville. The legislation was approved with an emergency clause intended to make it immediately effective. Special Prosecutor Olsen filed the motion to suspend Nett under the law on April 27, the same day the recall jury returned its verdict.
Nett remains a sitting member of the Town Council. Purcellville News will continue to report on the proceedings.
