[Read what’s behind the impeachment of West Virginia’s Supreme Court]

If the impeached justices are convicted at a trial in the Senate and removed, the replacements will be named by Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican. They would stay on the bench until an election, a period that could last up to a year and a half.

Democrats have described the whole process as a partisan power grab; the Legislature and the governor’s office are in Republican control, while a majority of the justices on the Supreme Court of Appeals, as the state’s highest court is officially known, were elected as Democrats.

“This is indeed a sad day and certainly no cause for anyone to celebrate,” said John Shott, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, at the start of the long day. “But it is our duty, and I think the public demands it.”