We note with disgust the Virginia Senate’s handling — or mishandling — of Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s interim appointment of Justice Jane Marum Roush to the Virginia Supreme Court and the GOP’s insistence on their own selection, Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., an African-American.

The lawmakers’ political shenanigans around a decision as serious as the appointment of a justice to the state’s highest court spiraled downward into a scenario typically played out during student government elections in high school. The childish and churlish behavior of Republicans and Democrats alike was nothing short of abominable.

Now Virginians are left with two highly qualified — and likely embarrassed and mortified — jurists who continue their work on the bench deciding the fate of people and issues without knowing exactly what may happen in the coming days and weeks.

There is enough blame to go around — starting with Gov. Terry McAuliffe, descending to Sen. Majority Leader Tommy Norment of Williamsburg and House Majority Leader William Howell of Stafford, to Sen. A. Donald McEachin of Henrico who heads the Senate Democratic Caucus, to members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, who voted against Judge Alston’s elevation to the Supreme Court.

While the entire episode points to the need for better communication between all parties, it also highlights the importance of statesmanship in such crucial matters. No one has walked away from this debacle looking good or feeling good. Both jurists were put in unfortunate positions. And the interests of the citizens of the Commonwealth have not been served.

As former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder used to say quoting Shakespeare: “A pox on both your houses.”

We renew our call for turning judicial selection over to the people of the Commonwealth. Let candidates for the bench stand before the people instead of before a house of jokers.

Let the people hold hearings on the candidates and their positions, and then let the people decide.

What can we learn from the 38 states that currently elect judges to their high courts?

We don’t want Virginia to mirror the morass of Washington in these affairs. If our elected representatives can’t handle the task, then let us do the job.