Faber stepping down as chief judge

CHARLESTON – U.S. District Court Judge David A. Faber is relinquishing his duties of chief judge for the Southern District of West Virginia.

Faber said May 24 that he is passing the chief judgeship to Judge Joseph R. Goodwin effective Aug. 1.

"I'm delighted to pass those duties onto someone else," said Faber, who succeeded Charles Haden as chief judge in December 2002. "It's a few years early, but if I waited, Judge Goodwin would be too old to be chief judge. And he deserves a chance to be the chief judge."

Beyond that, Faber said his plans are indefinite.

"I'm turning 65 in October, but giving up the chief judgeship is the only thing definite right now," he said.

Faber said the chief judgeship in each district is responsible primarily for personnel matters the day-to-day functioning of the court, the budget and assignment of cases to the judges. But he said case assignments mostly are handled by computer now

"I'm fond of quoting the Mark Twain story about a man who led out of town on a rail," Faber said of the extra work involved in being chief judge. "If it weren't for the honor of the thing, I'd prefer to walk."

Goodwin was out of town and unavailable for comment.