When West Virginia announced they were going to impeach their entire Supreme Court — two Democrats and two Republicans, not counting the other justice already indicted — Elie Mystal sat down and read up on the articles of impeachment and decided: hey, this seems pretty reasonable. The assembled court had spent upwards of $1 million in public funds to redecorate their offices with fairy dust and the legislature had finally had enough of this needless graft. If anyone’s going to impoverish the people of West Virginia for the sake of their own lavish lifestyle, they damn well better own a coal mine!

But if it seemed weird that a gaggle of Republicans in one of the Trumpiest of Trump states would allow their ethical standards and commitment to the bipartisan mission of governing West Virginia prevail over gross political power grabs, that’s because they didn’t. In fact, the DEMOCRATS suggested impeaching these justices way back in January — and one member attempted to initiate proceedings in February — yet nothing happened until now. I wonder why getting the ball rolling now is so significant…

This is a BFD. The GOP-controlled legislature dragged its feet forvmonths on impeaching these justices to prevent their replacement by voters via special elections this fall. Missing today's deadline lets Republican Gov. Jim Justice appoint their replacements. https://t.co/ffzRO6PNpg — Fiddler (@cFidd) August 14, 2018

Yes, that’s right. Justice Robin Davis figured it out just in time, resigning in time to allow a special election to select her replacement. However, the rest of the West Virginia Supreme Court will ride out the impeachment proceedings — where they will be convicted — and the Republican governor will appoint their replacements, turning the 3-2 Democratic majority on the court that existed at the start of 2018 into 3 Republicans and 2 jurists picked in a special election. So with their gaming of the system, the Republicans have taken control of the Supreme Court — it’s only a matter of the margin.

Pretty clever little stunt. Of course, it’s made easier when most people don’t understand how to read the fine print on election laws.

Earlier: West Virginia Impeaches Entire State Supreme Court, Will Return To Trial By Combat During Changeover, Probably

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.