CHARLESTON – Nine people have applied for the vacancy on the state Supreme Court left by last month’s resignation of former Justice Evan Jenkins.
On March 18, Gov. Jim Justice’s office announced the names of the nine who have applied to the state Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission.
They are Charleston attorney C. Haley Bunn, Charleston attorney Nicole A. Cofer, Lewisburg attorney Robert J. Frank, Cabell Circuit Judge Gregory Howard, former gubernatorial chief of staff Charles Lorensen, Assistant Putnam County Prosecutor Kris Raynes, retired Circuit Judge Jim Rowe, Putnam County Prosecutor Mark Sorsaia and Kanawha Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit.
Gov. Jim Justice
| State of West Virginia
The JVAC soon will conduct interviews with the nine applicants later this month. After that, it will submit at least three names to the governor, who will make the final decision.
The person appointed to the seat will serve until 2024 following passage of a bill earlier this month that allows 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 Jenkins announced his resignation from the bench.
Before the bill was passed, the person appointed by the governor would have 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.
Now, the person appointed will 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.