United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia

United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia

United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia
(S.D. W. Va.)
Seal of the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia
Appeals to Fourth Circuit
Established January 22, 1901
Judges assigned 5
Chief judge Robert Charles Chambers
Official site

The United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia (in case citations, S.D. W.Va.) is a federal court in the Fourth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the Federal Circuit).

The District was established on June 22, 1901.[1]

The United States Attorney for the District is Booth Goodwin.

Contents

  • Organization of the court 1
  • Current judges 2
  • Former judges 3
  • Succession of seats 4
  • See also 5
  • Notes 6
  • External links 7

Organization of the court

The United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia is one of two federal judicial districts in West Virginia.[2] Court for the Southern District is held at Beckley, Bluefield, Charleston, and Huntington.

Beckley Division comprises the following counties: Greenbrier, Raleigh, Summers, and Wyoming.

Bluefield Division comprises the following counties: Mercer, McDowell, and Monroe.

Charleston Division comprises the following counties: Boone, Clay, Fayette, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mingo, Nicholas, Roane, Wirt, and Wood.

Huntington Division comprises the following counties: Cabell, Mason, Putnam, and Wayne.

Current judges

# Title Judge Duty station Born Term of service Appointed by
Active Chief Senior
16 Chief Judge Robert Charles Chambers Huntington 1952 1997–present 2012–present — Clinton
10 District Judge John Thomas Copenhaver Jr. Charleston 1925 1976–present — — Ford
15 District Judge Joseph Robert Goodwin Charleston 1942 1995–present 2007–2012 — Clinton
17 District Judge Thomas E. Johnston Charleston 1967 2006–present — — G.W. Bush
18 District Judge Irene C. Berger Beckley 1954 2009–present — — Obama
14 Senior Judge David A. Faber Bluefield 1942 1991–2008 2002–2007 2008–present G.H.W. Bush

Former judges

# Judge State Born/Died Active service Chief Judge Senior status Appointed by Reason for
termination
1 Keller, Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin Keller WV 1857–1921 1901–1921 — — McKinley,McKinley death
2 McClintic, George WarwickGeorge Warwick McClintic WV 1866–1942 1921–1941 — 1941–1942 Harding,Harding death
3 Watkins, Harry EvansHarry Evans Watkins WV 1898–1963 1937–1963 — — Roosevelt, F.F. Roosevelt death
4 Moore, BenBen Moore WV 1891–1958 1941–1958 1948–1958 — Roosevelt, F.F. Roosevelt death
5 Field Jr., John A.John A. Field Jr. WV 1910–1995 1959–1971 1959–1971 — Eisenhower,Eisenhower reappointment
6 Christie, Sidney LeeSidney Lee Christie WV 1903–1974 1964–1974 1971–1973 — Johnson, L.L. Johnson death
7 Knapp, Dennis RaymondDennis Raymond Knapp WV 1912–1998 1970–1983 1973–1982 1983–1998 Nixon,Nixon death
8 Hall, Kenneth KellerKenneth Keller Hall WV 1918–1999 1971–1976 — — Nixon,Nixon reappointment
9 Haden II, Charles HaroldCharles Harold Haden II WV 1937–2004 1975–2004 1982–2002 — Ford,Ford death
11 Staker, Robert JacksonRobert Jackson Staker WV 1925–2008 1979–1994 — 1994–2005 Carter,Carter retirement
12 Kidd, William MatthewWilliam Matthew Kidd WV 1918–1998 1979–1983 — — Carter,Carter reassignment
13 Hallanan, Elizabeth VirginiaElizabeth Virginia Hallanan WV 1925–2004 1983–1996 — 1996–2004 Reagan,Reagan death

Succession of seats

See also

Notes

-- Module:Hatnote -- -- -- -- This module produces hatnote links and links to related articles. It -- -- implements the and meta-templates and includes -- -- helper functions for other Lua hatnote modules. --

local libraryUtil = require('libraryUtil') local checkType = libraryUtil.checkType local mArguments -- lazily initialise Module:Arguments local yesno -- lazily initialise Module:Yesno

local p = {}

-- Helper functions

local function getArgs(frame) -- Fetches the arguments from the parent frame. Whitespace is trimmed and -- blanks are removed. mArguments = require('Module:Arguments') return mArguments.getArgs(frame, {parentOnly = true}) end

local function removeInitialColon(s) -- Removes the initial colon from a string, if present. return s:match('^:?(.*)') end

function p.findNamespaceId(link, removeColon) -- Finds the namespace id (namespace number) of a link or a pagename. This -- function will not work if the link is enclosed in double brackets. Colons -- are trimmed from the start of the link by default. To skip colon -- trimming, set the removeColon parameter to true. checkType('findNamespaceId', 1, link, 'string') checkType('findNamespaceId', 2, removeColon, 'boolean', true) if removeColon ~= false then link = removeInitialColon(link) end local namespace = link:match('^(.-):') if namespace then local nsTable = mw.site.namespaces[namespace] if nsTable then return nsTable.id end end return 0 end

function p.formatPages(...) -- Formats a list of pages using formatLink and returns it as an array. Nil -- values are not allowed. local pages = {...} local ret = {} for i, page in ipairs(pages) do ret[i] = p._formatLink(page) end return ret end

function p.formatPageTables(...) -- Takes a list of page/display tables and returns it as a list of -- formatted links. Nil values are not allowed. local pages = {...} local links = {} for i, t in ipairs(pages) do checkType('formatPageTables', i, t, 'table') local link = t[1] local display = t[2] links[i] = p._formatLink(link, display) end return links end

function p.makeWikitextError(msg, helpLink, addTrackingCategory) -- Formats an error message to be returned to wikitext. If -- addTrackingCategory is not false after being returned from -- Module:Yesno, and if we are not on a talk page, a tracking category -- is added. checkType('makeWikitextError', 1, msg, 'string') checkType('makeWikitextError', 2, helpLink, 'string', true) yesno = require('Module:Yesno') local title = mw.title.getCurrentTitle() -- Make the help link text. local helpText if helpLink then helpText = ' (help)' else helpText = end -- Make the category text. local category if not title.isTalkPage and yesno(addTrackingCategory) ~= false then category = 'Hatnote templates with errors' category = string.format( '%s:%s', mw.site.namespaces[14].name, category ) else category = end return string.format( '%s', msg, helpText, category ) end

-- Format link -- -- Makes a wikilink from the given link and display values. Links are escaped -- with colons if necessary, and links to sections are detected and displayed -- with " § " as a separator rather than the standard MediaWiki "#". Used in -- the template.

function p.formatLink(frame) local args = getArgs(frame) local link = args[1] local display = args[2] if not link then return p.makeWikitextError( 'no link specified', 'Template:Format hatnote link#Errors', args.category ) end return p._formatLink(link, display) end

function p._formatLink(link, display) -- Find whether we need to use the colon trick or not. We need to use the -- colon trick for categories and files, as otherwise category links -- categorise the page and file links display the file. checkType('_formatLink', 1, link, 'string') checkType('_formatLink', 2, display, 'string', true) link = removeInitialColon(link) local namespace = p.findNamespaceId(link, false) local colon if namespace == 6 or namespace == 14 then colon = ':' else colon = end -- Find whether a faux display value has been added with the | magic -- word. if not display then local prePipe, postPipe = link:match('^(.-)|(.*)$') link = prePipe or link display = postPipe end -- Find the display value. if not display then local page, section = link:match('^(.-)#(.*)$') if page then display = page .. ' § ' .. section end end -- Assemble the link. if display then return string.format('%s', colon, link, display) else return string.format('%s%s', colon, link) end end

-- Hatnote -- -- Produces standard hatnote text. Implements the template.

function p.hatnote(frame) local args = getArgs(frame) local s = args[1] local options = {} if not s then return p.makeWikitextError( 'no text specified', 'Template:Hatnote#Errors', args.category ) end options.extraclasses = args.extraclasses options.selfref = args.selfref return p._hatnote(s, options) end

function p._hatnote(s, options) checkType('_hatnote', 1, s, 'string') checkType('_hatnote', 2, options, 'table', true) local classes = {'hatnote'} local extraclasses = options.extraclasses local selfref = options.selfref if type(extraclasses) == 'string' then classes[#classes + 1] = extraclasses end if selfref then classes[#classes + 1] = 'selfref' end return string.format( '
%s
', table.concat(classes, ' '), s )

end

return p-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Module:Hatnote -- -- -- -- This module produces hatnote links and links to related articles. It -- -- implements the and meta-templates and includes -- -- helper functions for other Lua hatnote modules. --

local libraryUtil = require('libraryUtil') local checkType = libraryUtil.checkType local mArguments -- lazily initialise Module:Arguments local yesno -- lazily initialise Module:Yesno

local p = {}

-- Helper functions

local function getArgs(frame) -- Fetches the arguments from the parent frame. Whitespace is trimmed and -- blanks are removed. mArguments = require('Module:Arguments') return mArguments.getArgs(frame, {parentOnly = true}) end

local function removeInitialColon(s) -- Removes the initial colon from a string, if present. return s:match('^:?(.*)') end

function p.findNamespaceId(link, removeColon) -- Finds the namespace id (namespace number) of a link or a pagename. This -- function will not work if the link is enclosed in double brackets. Colons -- are trimmed from the start of the link by default. To skip colon -- trimming, set the removeColon parameter to true. checkType('findNamespaceId', 1, link, 'string') checkType('findNamespaceId', 2, removeColon, 'boolean', true) if removeColon ~= false then link = removeInitialColon(link) end local namespace = link:match('^(.-):') if namespace then local nsTable = mw.site.namespaces[namespace] if nsTable then return nsTable.id end end return 0 end

function p.formatPages(...) -- Formats a list of pages using formatLink and returns it as an array. Nil -- values are not allowed. local pages = {...} local ret = {} for i, page in ipairs(pages) do ret[i] = p._formatLink(page) end return ret end

function p.formatPageTables(...) -- Takes a list of page/display tables and returns it as a list of -- formatted links. Nil values are not allowed. local pages = {...} local links = {} for i, t in ipairs(pages) do checkType('formatPageTables', i, t, 'table') local link = t[1] local display = t[2] links[i] = p._formatLink(link, display) end return links end

function p.makeWikitextError(msg, helpLink, addTrackingCategory) -- Formats an error message to be returned to wikitext. If -- addTrackingCategory is not false after being returned from -- Module:Yesno, and if we are not on a talk page, a tracking category -- is added. checkType('makeWikitextError', 1, msg, 'string') checkType('makeWikitextError', 2, helpLink, 'string', true) yesno = require('Module:Yesno') local title = mw.title.getCurrentTitle() -- Make the help link text. local helpText if helpLink then helpText = ' (help)' else helpText = end -- Make the category text. local category if not title.isTalkPage and yesno(addTrackingCategory) ~= false then category = 'Hatnote templates with errors' category = string.format( '%s:%s', mw.site.namespaces[14].name, category ) else category = end return string.format( '%s', msg, helpText, category ) end

-- Format link -- -- Makes a wikilink from the given link and display values. Links are escaped -- with colons if necessary, and links to sections are detected and displayed -- with " § " as a separator rather than the standard MediaWiki "#". Used in -- the template.

function p.formatLink(frame) local args = getArgs(frame) local link = args[1] local display = args[2] if not link then return p.makeWikitextError( 'no link specified', 'Template:Format hatnote link#Errors', args.category ) end return p._formatLink(link, display) end

function p._formatLink(link, display) -- Find whether we need to use the colon trick or not. We need to use the -- colon trick for categories and files, as otherwise category links -- categorise the page and file links display the file. checkType('_formatLink', 1, link, 'string') checkType('_formatLink', 2, display, 'string', true) link = removeInitialColon(link) local namespace = p.findNamespaceId(link, false) local colon if namespace == 6 or namespace == 14 then colon = ':' else colon = end -- Find whether a faux display value has been added with the | magic -- word. if not display then local prePipe, postPipe = link:match('^(.-)|(.*)$') link = prePipe or link display = postPipe end -- Find the display value. if not display then local page, section = link:match('^(.-)#(.*)$') if page then display = page .. ' § ' .. section end end -- Assemble the link. if display then return string.format('%s', colon, link, display) else return string.format('%s%s', colon, link) end end

-- Hatnote -- -- Produces standard hatnote text. Implements the template.

function p.hatnote(frame) local args = getArgs(frame) local s = args[1] local options = {} if not s then return p.makeWikitextError( 'no text specified', 'Template:Hatnote#Errors', args.category ) end options.extraclasses = args.extraclasses options.selfref = args.selfref return p._hatnote(s, options) end

function p._hatnote(s, options) checkType('_hatnote', 1, s, 'string') checkType('_hatnote', 2, options, 'table', true) local classes = {'hatnote'} local extraclasses = options.extraclasses local selfref = options.selfref if type(extraclasses) == 'string' then classes[#classes + 1] = extraclasses end if selfref then classes[#classes + 1] = 'selfref' end return string.format( '
%s
', table.concat(classes, ' '), s )

end

return p
  1. ^ http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/courts_district_wv.html U.S. District Courts of West Virginia, Legislative history, Federal Judicial Center
  2. ^ 28 U.S.C. § 129

External links

  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia
  • The United States Attorney's Office Southern District of West Virginia