CHARLESTON – A bill that would allow judicial appointments made by the governor to stand for up to three years has passed and is headed to the governor’s desk.
House Bill 4785 passed March 8 on a 30-3 Senate vote. It passed the House of Delegates last month.
The bill was created soon after former Supreme Court Justice Evan Jenkins announced his resignation from the bench. That appointment, which has yet to be made by Gov. Jim Justice, would be affected by this bill if it becomes law.
Trump
Currently, the person appointed by the governor would serve until this fall’s general election because it is the next scheduled statewide election other than this spring’s primary, and it is too late to get the position on that ballot.
If the bill passes, the person appointed would serve until 2024, which is when the seat would be next on the ballot. That’s less than three years, so the person appointed would serve until the start of the next term in January 2025.
The bill applies to all judicial vacancies, not just state Supreme Court openings.
“I think it’s a good policy,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Trump (R-Morgan) said before Tuesday’s floor vote. “It seems to me that whoever is the choice of the governor to fill that vacancy should be not having to learn how to be a Supreme Court justice immediately and running for office for an election that he or she is going to have to stand in in November of this year at the same time.”
Both Trump and Senator Mike Woelfel (D-Cabell) said this bill would ensure sitting circuit judges would more seriously consider trying for a state Supreme Court seat.
“Some of our best Supreme Court justices in my 40 years of practicing law have come from the circuit court bench,” Woelfel said on the Senate floor. “Why? Because they’ve got the experience. They’ve been in the courtroom. They have demonstrated a balance. They have demonstrated fairness. …
“If we don’t pass this bill, you’re going to exclude from consideration, from application, every circuit judge sitting in this state. Why? Because they’re going to give up their position if they would be appointed and then not only learn how to be a justice from May to November, but try to win a statewide office. And nobody’s going to do that.
“No circuit judge is going to give up his position as a circuit judge, get appointed to the Supreme Court and try to be elected statewide for the first time in a few months. … We want the best pool of applicants to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.”
