Supreme Court Case Makes WV A National Laughingstock

Excerpted from a June 18 editorial in the Charleston Gazette

Around America, scornful reactions followed the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that West Virginia Justice Brent Benjamin shouldnt have voted to save Massey Energy from an $82 million fraud judgment, after Masseys CEO spent $3 million to put Benjamin on the bench.

The Los Angeles Times called it "the case of a grandiosely unethical West Virginia justice," adding: "Benjamins participation in the case assured him a place in the judiciarys annals of shame."

Syndicated columnist Tom Teepen called it "an especially egregious case of big money at play in what is supposed to be justice."

The Youngstown Vindicator said of the West Virginia case: "It would seem obvious that most people would not feel they were getting a fair hearing under the circumstances, and when most people have reason to wonder whether justice is for sale, the judiciary suffers."

Now that Benjamin has been knocked off the Massey case, West Virginias Supreme Court is proceeding to rehear it, without him. But fallout from this affair goes farther. Gov. Manchin has appointed an Independent Commission on Judicial Reform nominally headed by retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor, who once said of the Massey case: "It does not look good, does it? Why would a state want to subject itself to an influx of money into its courtroom?"

We hope a real cleanup arises from the Massey mess that blemished West Virginia.