Archive for June, 2009
Our court system needs revamped
The Journal
By Richie Heath, Executive Director
West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse
June 27, 2009
Gov. Joe Manchin’s newly formed Independent Commission on Judicial Reform has the potential to finally move West Virginia’s legal system forward. As your paper’s June 18 editorial correctly points out, reform of our legal system will be no easy task. The nine-member commission [...]
Groups hail creation of commission
West Virginia Record
By Justin Anderson
June 16, 2009
CHARLESTON – Legal advocacy groups hailed Gov. Joe Manchin’s official creation of a nine-member commission to study the state’s court system.
But while one of the groups said the commission is long overdue, the other is calling for an objective look at the system, free from special interest bias.
“This critical [...]
Just politicians in judicial robes?
Charleston Daily Mail
June 17, 2009
RETIRED U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor lamented in a May speech to the American Bar Association the public’s mistrust of judges as “just politicians in robes” rather than impartial jurists.
Fairly or not, that accurately characterizes the views of a substantial number of West Virginians.
Some West Virginia justices have [...]
Health reform must include legal reform
Charleston Daily Mail
June 16, 2009
Earlier this month, President Obama proposed budget rules that would allow Congress to borrow billions of dollars to jump-start his health care plan.
A public that has been buried in debt to save everything from banks to insurance companies to auto companies is going to take a dim view of that.
The [...]
The high court made hash of the bias issue
Charleston Daily Mail
By Hoppy Kercheval
June 16, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin should have stepped aside in cases involving Massey Energy resolves that particular issue, but it opens the door to many more disputes over when a judge should recuse himself.
The high court’s 5-4 decision found that [...]
What’s next for W.Va. courts?
Parkersburg News & Sentinel
June 14, 2009
Your piece (“Buying Justice?” June 10) puts in proper perspective the many issues that have been raised by the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Caperton v. Massey. While many people want to make this issue about some individuals, your paper correctly notes that the problem is much larger than [...]
Reforms would position city for growth
Charleston Gazette
Reader’s forum
June 12, 2009
Editor:
Charleston’s designation as one of the “10 Fastest Dying Cities in America” by Forbes Magazine is justifiably a sore spot for many of us who live here.
Whether you read about our “dying” cities or our “judicial hellholes,” it is only natural for West Virginians to be defensive. After all, there [...]
State courts are a political matter
Charleston Daily Mail
June 12, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that state Supreme Court candidates who benefit from too much financial support – the court did not specify what amount is toxic – may be presumed to be biased and should not hear cases involving the parties that supported them.
The ruling cheered the critics of [...]
West Virginians can’t win for losing
Charleston Daily Mail
June 9, 2009
The politics of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has more plot twists than “As the World Turns,” and a 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court just kinked it even further.
The state’s highest court, with employer-hostile decisions and invention of novel causes of aggrievement, added to West Virginia’s [...]
Lot’s of questions follow Supreme Court’s Benjamin decision
Charleston Daily Mail
June 9, 2009
By Jake Stump
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Some observers were reminded of the U.S. Supreme Court’s vague “I know it when I see it” approach when the high court ruled Monday that West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin should have disqualified himself from a high-profile case involving Massey Energy.
By a 5-4 vote, [...]
