HR 38 Text

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 38
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegate Trump)

"Memorializing the outstanding life of Charles H. Haden II, accomplished jurist, who loved history, had a lifelong reverence for the law and was passionately devoted to West Virginia and its people."

Whereas, Charles H. Haden II, who once was the longest serving chief judge on the federal bench died Saturday, April 17, 2004 in his home in Charleston, West Virginia at the age of 66.
Married to Priscilla Ann Miller on June 2, 1956, they were the parents of three children.
In the early 1960's Charles H. Haden II, newly admitted to the West Virginia bar after graduation from West Virginia University Law School, became an associate in his father's well established law firm.
In 1963, "Chuck" Haden was elected to the House of Delegates when he was just 26, and he was named the outstanding freshmen member of the Legislature at the end of his term two years later. In 1968, he was the Republican nominee for Attorney General. Although he was not well known beyond Morgantown and Monongalia County when the campaign began and, although he did not win election, he collected more votes than any other GOP candidate except six-term U.S. Rep. Arch Moore Jr., who was elected Governor.
Governor Moore then appointed him as Tax Commissioner, where he proved adept at working with a Democratic majority in the Legislature. On June 21, 1972, Governor Moore appointed him to fill a vacancy on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. In 1974, he was elected to a full term and became Chief Justice, becoming the first Republican elected to the court in more than half a century. He served only a year of his term when President Gerald Ford nominated him to the federal bench on November 21, 1975.
At the age of 38, he had found his home as a judge. He built a reputation for holding court for extraordinary hours, handing down tough sentences, and maintaining unbending standards of decorum. To hear cases across the district, he traveled often and traveled light. He would show up for a trial and announce to lawyers: "This is a two-shirt case." That meant he had packed two white shirts and intended to conclude the proceedings by the time they needed laundering.
In 1982, he became Chief Judge in the court's Southern District in Charleston. By the time the uproar over the mountaintop removal case made him a household name in 1998, he was one of the senior chief judges in the country's federal courts. U.S. Chief Justice William Rhenquist named him chairman of the executive committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, a panel of judges that oversees administrative matters of the federal judicial system.
Outside the courtroom, he was still the affable "Chuck Haden" who had served in the Legislature and who had run for Attorney General, but when he put on the robe and stepped into his role as judge, he was very conscious and protective of his position and demanding of respect for the court.
He was instrumental in rewriting the amendment to the State Constitution that reshaped the judiciary in West Virginia.
As Chief Judge of the Southern District of West Virginia from 1982 to 2002, he implemented initiatives to computerize court files, cut down on unneeded jury duties and locate the district court, bankruptcy court and federal probation offices in one building.
He continued to hold hearings and issue orders until a few days before his death and it was said of him at that time that he was "the epitome of what a judge should be"; therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Delegates:
That regret is hereby expressed by the members of the House of Delegates at the death of Charles H. Haden II, accomplished jurist, who loved history, had a lifelong reverence for the law and was passionately devoted to West Virginia and its people; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates is hereby requested to prepare certified copies of this resolution for Priscilla Ann Haden, his surviving wife, and his surviving children.

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