Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia comes to WVU College of Law
Chief Justice William R. Wooton told 12 News that he attended the WVU College of Law to obtain his law degree, along with many of his colleagues. He added that when he attended the college, there was nothing like this that existed for students.
'The Supreme Court was just a mystery,' Wooton stated. 'I think this gives students a firsthand experience without having to leave the school. It also provides an excellent teaching opportunity for the faculty.'
Wooton said that the Supreme Court Justices took some care in selecting the cases that were argued on Tuesday, adding that each of these cases provides an excellent opportunity for teaching points. Three cases were argued during this event: two dealing with Rule 20 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure, and another dealing with Rule 19 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
'Apart from what it does for the law school, it kind of re-energizes all of us,' said Wooton. 'We love coming back, it's a homecoming if you will and we all have great memories of being in this place, and it's just a lot of fun.'
After the Supreme Court listened to all three arguments, the Justices sat down to eat lunch alongside the students and answer questions. 'I think it's a great experience for students to interact with the Supreme Court Justices. Most of us in my time, you never saw a Supreme Court Justice unless you were in court,' Wooton added.
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According to Wooton, the Supreme Court of Appeals has numerous tasks across the state of West Virginia. The state supreme court is the administrative head of the court, under a 'unified court system,' where the responsibility is exercised among five court Justices.
'An enormous part of our responsibility is administrative,' said Wooton. 'We enter into leases regarding family courts, […] provide the technological support for all the circuit courts and family courts and magistrates, and the computer systems and all that.'
Wooton said that the Supreme Court of Appeals is the 'court of last resort' in West Virginia, adding that any cases can ultimately be appealed to their court. He said that one of Tuesday's cases dealt with a 'certified question' from the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, which is the appellate court in the federal system that is one level below the United States Supreme Court.
'If they have a question about what West Virginia law means, and in this case it was 'what does this particular West Virginia statute mean?' Well the federal courts don't take a guess at that,' said Wooton. 'Instead, they refer to the West Virginia Supreme Court to say 'what exactly does this law mean?''
Wooton first joined the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in 2021 and said that they had been holding this event for many years prior. However, he stated that he attended the WVU College of Law a long time ago when the law school wasn't even in the same building, adding that they didn't have a courtroom or any facilities.
He said that during his time in law school, the court was constitutionally different and they didn't have a unified court system. 'That changed with the constitutional amendment where we gained the administrative responsibility for every judge,' Wooton added.
'I think it's important for a law student to watch how every level of court works,' said Wooton. 'They don't often get a chance to see a trial court work, but I think the law school now tries to make that happen.'
Wooton stated that he feels it's important for students to see that standing up and answering questions from a professor is similar to a lawyer arguing an appellate case and answering a question from a Justice. 'It kind of grounds their knowledge of what they're learning as to how it's gonna be applied.'
According to Wooton, trial courts are courts of record, so they function a little bit differently than appellate courts. 'Everything that's said is recorded, taken down and appellate courts are not courts of record. You can't introduce any evidence here, […] all we can do is review the record of what happened below,' he said.
Wooton added that the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is only able to make a decision as to whether something was done correctly or not. He stated that if there's no indication as to what was done at all, the court is unable to make a judgment.
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