CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia lawmakers have started discussions about how to proceed with state Supreme Court impeachment, with particular attention to whether there should be a deadline.
Discussion began this morning in the Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary. That meeting was recessed until 5 p.m. today when senators and delegates planned to continue their discussion in the House of Delegates chamber.
The historic situation has been prompted by the indictment of Justice Allen Loughry on federal charges. Although Loughry has been a focal point, the language used so far at the Legislature has not limited impeachment to just him.
Late Friday afternoon, Senate President Mitch Carmichael and House Speaker Tim Armstead directed members of each house’s judiciary committees to begin planning for the impeachment possibility.
If impeachment would move forward, the House of Delegates would establish the articles of impeachment — essentially laying out the charges. The Senate would then serve as the jury in a trial.
All eyes are on the calendar, too.
An initial memo that went out to lawmakers from House Judiciary Chairman John Shott described the need to move with expediency but it also discussed being concluded with preliminary work by Sept. 6, envisioning a special session to deal with impeachment to coincide with interim meetings in mid-September.
August 14 is a key divide between whether an open court seat would be filled during this fall’s general election or whether the governor would appoint someone to fill the seat.
With that date in mind, Delegate Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, pushed for a deadline for the House of Delegates to fulfill its role. Fluharty said he would like to see that completed by the end of July.
He accused the Republican majority of intentionally dragging its feet so Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, might appoint someone to the bench.
“You’re seeing politics as usual in West Virginia, where those in power are so power thirsty they want to control everything,” Fluharty said.
“They’ve delayed, delayed and delayed for months. We brought this up during regular session. Now it has hit the fan because we have a criminal indictment that has come down. We have all these issues. It’s clear what took place, and what took place is an impeachable offense.”
Fluharty contends the incentive to delay is to get past the August 14 date.
“By getting past the August 14 deadline, those in power make the decision of who sits on the Supreme Court and not the people of West Virginia,” he said. “I find that to be offensive. It goes against what we should be should be doing as a state. We represent the people.
“The people put Justice Loughry in. The Legislature has the power to take Justice Loughry out. The people should make the decision as to who sits next, if that’s what we decide to do.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Trump, R-Morgan, countered that it’s more important to be careful than to hurry.
“I understood the delegate’s issue with time frame, however I will say that for me the most important thing — more important than that — is that the process be such that it’s done correctly,” Trump said.
“We want to make sure everything is done right, that due process and constitutional requirements are followed and adhered to. That’s the most important matter than a particular time frame.”
Trump this morning proposed a motion to set up subcommittees of Judiciary members from each house to start working on how the impeachment proceedings might work.
The motion was detailed about the duties of each house and the discussion that followed was technical, too.
Lawmakers acknowledged that they have no experience with such proceedings. The last time the state Legislature considered impeachment was in 1989 in the case of state Treasurer A. James Manchin, who resigned before his trial was to begin.
“What we’re working on is something that’s very rare in terms of our state’s history,” Trump said. “It’s even rarer when you think about a process while the Legislature is not actually convened in formal session.”