West Virginia

Supreme Court Justices: 5

Method of Selection: partisan election

Method of Retention: reelection

Term Length: 12 years

Candidate Fundraising from 2000-2009: $7,384,664 (ranked 10th in the nation.)

Summary:

• West Virginia has recently suffered a series of controversies, most of them involving one man: Don Blankenship. Along the way, he became a poster child for advocates of tighter restrictions on judicial elections.

• Blankenship, the CEO of Massey Coal Co., spent $3 million in 2004 to help elect Justice Brent D. Benjamin, who later voted to overturn a $50 million verdict against Blankenship's company. Blankenship's campaign led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Caperton v. Massey;  the Supreme Court required Benjamin to recuse himself and found that large judicial campaign expenditures could create an unacceptable potential for bias.

• State Supreme Court Chief Justice Elliot Maynard was ousted by voters in 2008 after being photographed vacationing with Blankenship.

• West Virginia became a battleground in the national debate over preserving fair and impartial courts. Gov. Joe Manchin created a commission to study potential reforms, led by retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

• The legislature approved in 2010 a trial test of public financing for the 2012 state Supreme Court elections. It also established an eight-member judicial nominating commission to screen and recommend appointees to the governor for midterm vacancies. In 2011, legislators deflated hopes for the pilot public financing program when they halted a lawyers' fee needed to provide full funding. 

• West Virginia was ranked 50th in the nation for its litigation climate in courts, by a 2009 U.S. Chamber of Commerce survey.
  

To Learn More:

• The American Judicature Society's "Judicial Selection in the States" web site has state-specific information on West Virginia, including summaries of the state's Campaign Finance rules and Campaign Conduct codes for judicial candidates.
  
  
• The National Institute on Money in State Politics has detailed information on candidate fundraising in West Virginia's 2008 high court election. For data on other state elections, click here.
  
  

• "The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2000-2009" has a profile on West Virginia's elections.