Litigation

New Senator Active in Judicial Reform

By Peter Hardin

When West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin selected his former general counsel, Carte Goodwin, to fill temporarily a vacant U.S. Senate seat, Manchin selected a lawyer familiar with judicial reform issues.

Goodwin was named earlier by the governor to head the Independent Commission on Judicial Reform, according to a statement by Manchin Friday. The commission’s honorary chairwoman was retired Supreme Court Justice Day O’Connor. The panel made several recommendations (see Gavel Grab), including a pilot plan for public financing of state Supreme Court elections; the legislature went along with that idea.

A Huffington Post article featured video from a Georgetown University Law School conference in which Goodwin participated in a panel discussion about the Supreme Court’s Caperton v. Massey decision, a landmark ruling involving fair and impartial justice in West Virginia. Goodwin had kind words for Bert Brandenburg, executive director of the Justice at Stake Campaign and another member of the panel.

Full post as published by The Gavel on July 16, 2010 (boomark / email).