Impeachment of Entire West Virginia Supreme Court

The West Virginia House voted to impeach four West Virginia Supreme Court Justices. The only remaining justice resigned prior to the introduction of the articles of impeachment.

The articles of impeachment refer to the "waste [of] state funds with little or no concern for the costs to be borne by the tax payer for unnecessary and lavish spending in the renovation and remodeling of his personal office after questions arose about expensive, state funded office renovations."

NBC reports "Republican Gov. Jim Justice will be allowed to appoint new justices to replace any who are impeached — with no requirement that they be from the same party as the incumbent. Democrats have accused Republicans of attempting to wrest the court away from voters, who elected the current justices in nonpartisan elections."

Impeach Entire Supreme Court of West Virginia?

A West Virginia House panel moved last week to impeach the state’s entire Supreme Court. “There’s a culture of entitlement and cavalier indifference and disregard for the expenditure of taxpayer money,” said House Judiciary Chairman John Shott, R-Mercer, whose committee issued articles of impeachment after 8 days of testimony.

"Elections to the state Supreme Court became formally nonpartisan in 2015. But each justice remains tied to a given party, and the current makeup of the court is 3-2 in the Democrats’ favor" reports the Washington Post. "Democratic lawmakers said the court’s political composition and the timing of the legislative [impeachment] proceedings, which have come just before the August 14 deadline to organize a special election, call into question the intentions of Gov. Jim Justice, who switched parties and became a Republican after taking office last year. Once next week’s deadline passes, he would enjoy the power to appoint any new justices, who would serve until the next election in two years."