Lawmakers in West Virginia have voted to impeach all four justices on the state’s Supreme Court for failing to carry out their duties.<\/p>\n
Three justices now face an impeachment trial in the Senate while a fourth announced her retirement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
A fifth justice resigned from the top court in July.<\/p>\n
The judges are accused of spending hundreds of thousands of state dollars in office renovations, using state cars for personal use and overpaying judges.<\/p>\n
Chief Justice Margaret Workman and Justices Allen Loughry, Robin Davis, and Elizabeth Walker were impeached by the West Virginia House of Delegates on Monday.<\/p>\n
Justices Workman, Loughry and Walker will face the West Virginia Senate for impeachment trials.<\/p>\n
Justice Davis announced her retirement hours after her impeachment.<\/p>\n
A fifth justice, Menis Ketchum, retired last month, but has agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud over using state-owned cars and fuel cards for personal use.<\/p>\n
The House impeached Justice Loughry on Monday for spending more than $363,000 (\u00a3285,000) in office renovations – including for inlaying a map of the state in the floor of his office – and lying to the House Finance Committee about how involved he was in the costly renovation process.<\/p>\n
He is accused of moving a $42,000 desk and a $32,000 suede couch from the Supreme Court offices to his home, as well as misusing a state-owned vehicle, according to\u00a0the impeachment documents<\/a>.<\/p>\n Justice Loughry was indicted earlier on fraud and other charges.<\/p>\n Justice Davis was impeached for spending over $500,000 in renovations.<\/p>\n Justices Walker and Workman were cleared on reports of extravagant spending as they spent less than their fellow justices ($131,000 and $111,000, respectively).<\/p>\n Local media first reported the lavish spending last year.<\/p>\n But the justices all face neglect of duty charges, according to the impeachment articles.<\/p>\n Justices Workman, Loughry, and Davis are also accused of overpaying retired, senior judges.<\/p>\n “This is truly a sad day for West Virginia, but it is an important step forward if we are going to restore the public’s confidence in the judiciary,” state Congressman John Shot said\u00a0in a statement<\/a>\u00a0earlier this month.<\/p>\n “After reviewing all the evidence available to us, it became clear that a culture of entitlement and disregard for both the law and taxpayer funds have damaged the reputation of our judicial system – and that all justices had a part in violating the public’s trust.”<\/p>\n Under US law, impeachment begins in the House, but the Senate will act as jurors to determine whether the accused should be removed from office.<\/p>\n If the justices are all removed from office, the state’s governor, Republican Jim Justice, may end up appointing new justices.<\/p>\n In West Virginia, Supreme Court justices serve 12-year terms.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"