Qualla: Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On August 13, 2018, the West Virginia House of Delegates voted to impeach every justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals at the same time. It is the only time in modern American history that an entire state supreme court has been impeached in a single act. The charges grew out of a scandal that started with a $32,000 office couch and metastasized into federal felony convictions, resignations, retirements, and a hastily reconstituted bench. The court still sits primarily at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston. It still hears appeals from the state's circuit courts. Its members are now elected on a nonpartisan basis to 12-year terms - a system imposed by the legislature after Republicans took control in 2015. But the court that sat in 2018 is gone. None of its members serve there now.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia: What the Court Does

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia was established in 1863, the same year West Virginia became a state. For most of its history it was the only appellate court in the state. The West Virginia constitution permits an intermediate court of appeals, but the legislature de...

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia: The Couch and the Floor

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In late 2017, WCHS-TV in Charleston began reporting on extraordinary expenditures at the Supreme Court. The single item that came to define the scandal was a $32,000 office couch installed in Chief Justice Allen Loughry's chambers. Other expenditures included $130,000 of state-fu...

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia: The Wholesale Impeachment

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On July 11, 2018, Justice Menis Ketchum announced his resignation, effective July 27. On July 31, he pleaded guilty in federal court to a single count of wire fraud relating to personal use of a state vehicle. On August 13, the House of Delegates impeached the four remaining just...

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia: The New Court

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Governor Jim Justice spent the second half of 2018 rebuilding the bench. On August 25, he appointed Tim Armstead, the former Speaker of the House of Delegates, to fill Ketchum's seat, and Evan Jenkins, then a sitting U.S. Congressman who resigned the seat to take the appointment,...