West Virginia

Justices

• Chief Justice Brent Benjamin – Term expires 2016 (R)

• Justice Robin Jean Davis – Term expires 2012 (D)

• Justice Joseph Albright – Term expires 2012 (D)

• Justice Margaret Workman – Newly elected 2008, term expires 2020 (D)

• Justice Menis Ketchum – Newly elected 2008, term expires 2020 (D)

About the court

The West Virginia court is partisan with a Democratic majority (4-1).

Terms are for 12 years. Elections are partisan and staggered. The next election cycle is 2012.

Position of Chief Justice is rotating, usually changes each year.

The coal industry in W. Virginia is the major financial backer of Republican judicial candidates, as well as the business interest with the most at stake before the court.

Coal companies helped now Chief Justice Benjamin(R) in his bid to oust Democratic Chief Justice Warren McGraw in 2004, donating nearly 1/3 of his total campaign contributions. But Coal interests were also indirectly to blame for then Chief Justice Eliot “Spike” Maynard’s primary loss in 2008. Maynard, a Democrat, and Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship were personal friends, even vacationing in the French Riviera together. Maynard had refused to recuse himself from cases involving Massey Energy, some involving multi-million dollar verdicts that fell in Massey’s favor. The public noticed, and Maynard was not re-elected.