U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia
West Virginia · A federal trial court, where federal civil and criminal cases are first heard. Appeals go to the Fourth Circuit.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia is a United States district court, a federal trial court where most federal civil and criminal cases are first heard. It lies within the Fourth Circuit, which reviews its decisions on appeal. This page lists every judge to serve on the court, current and former, with who appointed them and whom they succeeded.
Party letters here are the appointing president’s, never a judge’s own: D Democratic, R Republican, N pre-modern-party era (Federalist, Whig, and other early parties); “–” means no recorded party. Counts cover the court’s entire history.
Judges in active service
Senior judges
Still members of the court: senior judges have stepped back from a full docket but continue to hear cases.
Seats over time
Each band is one judgeship, from the court’s founding to today. A segment’s width is the holder’s tenure; its color is the appointing president’s party. Gaps are vacancies.
Frank William Volk (current) · Thomas E. Johnston (current) · Robert Charles Chambers (current) · Joseph Robert Goodwin (current) · David A. Faber (current) · Irene Cornelia Berger (current) · John Thomas Copenhaver Jr. · Charles Harold Haden II · Dennis Raymond Knapp
Former judges
| Judge | Appointed by | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Elizabeth Virginia Hallanan | Reagan (R) | 1983–2004 |
| William Matthew Kidd | Carter (D) | 1979–1983 |
| Robert Jackson Staker | Carter (D) | 1979–2005 |
| John Thomas Copenhaver Jr. | Ford (R) | 1976–2026 |
| Charles Harold Haden II | Ford (R) | 1975–2004 |
| Kenneth Keller Hall | Nixon (R) | 1971–1976 |
| Dennis Raymond Knapp | Nixon (R) | 1970–1998 |
| Sidney Lee Christie | L.B. Johnson (D) | 1964–1974 |
| John A. Field Jr. | Eisenhower (R) | 1959–1971 |
| Ben Moore | F.D. Roosevelt (D) | 1941–1958 |
| Harry Evans Watkins | F.D. Roosevelt (D) | 1937–1963 |
| George Warwick McClintic | Harding (R) | 1921–1942 |
| Benjamin Franklin Keller | McKinley (R) | 1901–1921 |
Magistrate judges
Appointed by the judges of this district to renewable 8-year terms, not nominated by the president or confirmed by the Senate. They handle pretrial matters, misdemeanors, and many civil cases by consent.
| Magistrate judge | Years |
|---|---|
| Omar J. Aboulhosn | 2016–present |
| Dwane L. Tinsley | 2013–present |
| Cheryl A. Eifert | 2010–present |
| R Clarke Vandervort | 2002–2015 |
Bankruptcy court
How a judge gets here. Each judge is nominated by a president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, then holds a numbered seat, for life, until they take senior status, or until they leave the bench. Open any judge to see who appointed them, how the Senate voted, and whom they succeeded, a chain that runs back to 1901. This court is also served by magistrate judges, listed above, whom the district’s own judges appoint. Read more on how federal judges are appointed.
Source: FJC Biographical Directory and CourtListener / Free Law Project (bulk data). Data as of 2026-08-10 (FJC); magistrates 2026-03-31 (CourtListener bulk snapshot). Verify against the primary source before relying.