West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia
Seal of the West Virginia Supreme Court
Established	1863; 1872
Country	West Virginia , United States
Location	Charleston, West Virginia
Authorized by	West Virginia Constitution
Decisions are appealed to	Supreme Court of the United States
Judge term length	12 Years
Number of positions	5
Website	Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia
Chief Justice
Currently	Allen Loughry
Since	2017
Lead position ends	2018
Jurist term ends	2024

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is the state supreme court of the state of West Virginia, the highest of West Virginia's state courts. It is located in the state capital, Charleston, although in recent years it has operated a system where court is held for a single day at various colleges and in various county courthouses around the state, as an outreach program.

As of 2017, the court is one of eleven state supreme courts that has a female majority.

Although the West Virginia Constitution allows for an intermediate court of appeals to be created, the Supreme Court currently provides the only review of the decisions of the state's trial courts of general jurisdiction, the West Virginia Circuit Courts. In December 2010, the Supreme Court promulgated a major revision of West Virginia's rules of appellate procedure, by which it provided that it would hear all properly perfected appeals of right from the circuit courts.

The justices of the court were elected to 12-year terms by staggered, statewide, partisan elections. In 2015 the Legislature provided that future elections will be on a non-partisan basis and, in years that two seats are up, be elected in separate elections for each seat. Pursuant to the West Virginia Code (chapter 51), the Court holds two regular sessions annually with the first session commencing on the second Tuesday in January and the second session commencing on the first Wednesday in September. The Court may also sit in special session as needed.

Upon the death, resignation, or removal of a sitting justice, Article 8, Section 2 of the West Virginia Constitution permits the Governor to appoint a replacement. An election to fulfill the unexpired term must be held by the next regular general election. Because of the long length of the courts term (12 years), mid-term vacancies are frequent.

Until 2015, elections to the Supreme Court of Appeals were partisan. After Republicans took control of the West Virginia Legislature, the election were changed to be non-partisan. While thus listed as "Non-Partisan" Justice Walker is a conservative Republican.

The Chief Justiceship is a rotating office, which by tradition changes from one Justice to another each year. It brings primarily administrative duties, although the Chief Justice does have the authority to appoint replacements for recused justices under, Article 8, Section 2 of the West Virginia Constitution. (The duty would fall to the longest serving Justice should the Chief Justice him or herself be recused.)