CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former state Supreme Court Justice Thomas McHugh died Tuesday.

He was 88-years-old.
McHugh, a Charleston native, served two separate stints on the state’s highest court. The first began in 1980 and continued until his retirement in December 1997. McHugh was reappointed to the Supreme Court in 2008 following the death of Justice Joseph Albright. He served until the term was over in 2012.
McHugh would talk about how he retired twice from the Supreme Court.
He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of first lieutenant. He then attended and graduated from the WVU College of Law. He as a Kanawha County circuit judge in the 1970s.
McHugh was also part of the 2018 legal back-and-forth when the legislature held impeachment proceedings involving Supreme Court justices.
McHugh, a senior status judge at the time, was temporarily assigned to the court to appoint an acting chief justice who would then appoint four other acting justices.
McHugh did not serve on the acting court himself but filed an order appointing Judge James Matish of the 15th Judicial Circuit to be acting chief justice in the case.
Matish then appointed four more justices to be the substitute Supreme Court.
Story by Jeff Jenkins, MetroNews