Allen Loughry

Allen Loughry
Chief Justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
In office January 1, 2017 – February 16, 2018
Preceded by	Menis Ketchum
Succeeded by	Margaret Workman
Justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2013
Preceded by	Thomas McHugh
Succeeded by	0
Personal details
Born	(1970-08-09) August 9, 1970 Tucker County, West Virginia, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Education	West Virginia University, Morgantown (BS) Capital University (JD) American University (LLM, SJD) University of London (LLM)

Allen H. Loughry II (born August 9, 1970) is currently suspended without pay as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. He was arrested by the FBI on the morning of June 20, 2018. He faces up to 395 years in prison. He was previously best known for writing Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won't Pay for a Landslide.

Early life and education

Loughry was born in 1970 and is a native of Tucker County, West Virginia. He graduated from Tucker County High School in 1988 and went on to earn an undergraduate degree from the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism at West Virginia University (1992). Loughry earned a law degree from Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio, where he graduated with the honor of Order of the Curia (1998). He also holds an S.J.D. (Doctor of Juridical Science) from The American University, Washington College of Law (2003), where he had the distinction of being one of the first three people (and the only one from North America) to be admitted to the SJD program; an LL.M. (Masters of Laws in Criminology and Criminal Justice) from the University of London (2005); and an LL.M.(Masters of Laws in Law and Government) from the American University, Washington College of Law (1999). He studied law for a summer in England at St Anne's College, Oxford and received the program's top political science award (1997). The director of the Washington College of Law Program on Law and Government, Professor Jamin Raskin, said, "Allen was a model student and exacting scholar, and he will make a brilliant judge of the highest integrity." In 1999, he completed the program on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law through American University, Washington College of Law Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and the University of Utrecht, Netherlands Institute of Human Rights. On October 4, 2013, American University, Washington College of Law awarded Loughry its Distinguished Alumnus Award. Raskin, also a Maryland State Senator, said, "Not only was Loughry a brilliant, popular, and diligent student at AUWCL, but his research done at AUWCL became a published and much-acclaimed analysis of the history of political corruption in West Virginia. Loughry's run for the West Virginia Supreme Court was a tribute to his extraordinary creativity and intellect, and we are very proud of him and all his accomplishments." In 2014, he was the recipient of Tuckineer Award, given to individuals for their civic commitment and service to Tucker County.

Career

From 2003 until his election to the Supreme Court, Loughry served as a law clerk for the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. He worked for several Justices, lastly for Justice Margaret Workman. While at the Supreme Court he also was an adjunct professor in the University of Charleston's political science department. He previously served as a senior assistant attorney general in the West Virginia Attorney General's Office for seven years, in both the appellate and administration divisions. While there he was appointed as a special prosecuting attorney on numerous occasions to handle criminal cases throughout West Virginia. He has argued a number of cases before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia and has argued or filed legal pleadings in the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Northern Districts of West Virginia and the Southern District of Florida, among other legal forums. Loughry also served as a Special Assistant to U.S. Rep. Harley O. Staggers, Jr., and as a Direct Aide to West Virginia Governor Gaston Caperton. In 1997, he completed a legal externship at the Supreme Court of Ohio. He also served as a personal assistant to the Tucker County Prosecuting Attorney in 1988 and 1989. Additionally, he wrote for two newspapers (The Parsons Advocate and The Dominion Post of Morgantown) and was a freelance writer for The Associated Press. Loughry was the only candidate to participate in West Virginia's public financing pilot program, which was open only to Supreme Court candidates in the 2012 campaign. After his election in 2012, he served as Chief Justice for the first time beginning January 1, 2017.

Appeal by right jurisdiction

In 2010, the state Supreme Court amended its Rules of Appellate Procedure to include the "historic switch from appeals by permission to appeals by right." Loughry wrote in an opinion, "To be clear, West Virginia is an appeal by right jurisdiction, which means that all properly perfected appeals are reviewed by the Court and result in a written decision on the merits in each appeal. The National Center for State Courts, an independent, nonprofit court improvement organization providing research, education, and information services, recognizes West Virginia as an appeal by right state." Not all organizations agree that West Virginia has an appeals by right system, however. For years, West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (WV CALA) has said the state needs an intermediate court of appeals. In February 2017, the WV CALA executive director said the state doesn't have the guaranteed right of appeal. However, in a February 8, 2017 opinion about the involuntary hospitalization of a Kanawha County woman, Chief Justice Allen Loughry used a case point to stress that "all properly perfected appeals are reviewed by the (West Virginia Supreme) Court and result in a written decision on the merits of each appeal."

Authorship

In 2006, Loughry published Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won't Pay for a Landslide: The Sordid and Continuing History of Political Corruption in West Virginia. The publication was the result of ten years of research that began as his doctoral thesis at American University. It covers corruption in West Virginia from 1861, before statehood, through 2006 and includes topics such as John F. Kennedy's 1960 Primary Election, the Hatfields and McCoys, Mary Harris Jones, the Battle of Blair Mountain, gambling, sex scandals, and the author's road map to reform. Forewords were written by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and former Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV). It was the only foreword Sen. Byrd wrote for any book.

Removal as chief justice, suspension, and calls for impeachment

In April 2017, Loughry was selected to serve as Chief Justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court for a four-year term. It would have been the first time a chief justice would serve four consecutive years since 1888. Since 1888, the chief justice had been elected by the Supreme Court to serve a one-year term, with a few of justices serving two years in a row. On April 5, 2017, "the court voted to change its rules to provide for the chief justice to serve a four-year term and to allow the chief justice to be re-elected to subsequent four-year terms by a majority vote of the members of the court."

In late 2017, reports came to light of high spending by Loughry and Justice Davis totaling well more than a million dollars, and at an emergency meeting, he was replaced as Chief Justice. Several members of the House of Delegates have called for his impeachment.

On June 6th, the state Judicial Ethics Committee charged him with 32 counts of violation of the code of judicial ethics. The Supreme Court, reconstituted with four circuit judges and a retired circuit judge, appointed for that purpose, suspended him without pay until further notice.

Notes

• Loughry, Allen. Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won't Pay for a Landslide: The Sordid and Continuing History of Political Corruption in West Virginia. Parsons, WV:McClain Printing Company, 2006.