14 Facts About Richard Neely

Richard Forlani Neely was a justice and chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals from 1973 to 1995.

Richard Neely graduated in 1964 from Dartmouth College, in economics.

From 1968 to 1969, Neely served as an army artillery captain in Vietnam, where he was assigned to the staff of John Paul Vann and then to the staff of Ambassador Charles S Whitehouse.

Richard Neely was the grandson of Matthew M Neely, who served as both Governor of West Virginia and a US Senator.

Richard Neely is known for his pioneering work in domestic law.

From 1980 until his retirement from the Court in 1995, Richard Neely was among the best-known judges in the United States: he wrote regularly for national publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, and The Wall Street Journal.

Richard Neely's oft-reprinted cover article for the August 1982 Atlantic Monthly, "The Politics of Crime", explained, for example, that criminal courts are more incompetent than they should be because criminal judges are civil judges and civil defendants, like insurance companies, actively lobby to keep courts as incompetent as possible to make it harder for civil plaintiffs to sue them.

Frankly admitting that he was a restrained judicial activist, Richard Neely explained the practical and political limits to courts' powers, making his book an important contribution to arguments for judicial restraint.

Richard Neely always maintained an active interest in teaching: He was one of the first American professors to teach law in China in 1984 when China opened up; he served as Atherton Lecturer at Harvard; and, for over a decade he was professor of economics at the University of Charleston.

Richard Neely died on November 8,2020, in Charleston of liver cancer, aged 79.

In 1985 while serving a rotation as Chief Justice, Richard Neely dismissed his secretary, Tess Dineen from her job because she wanted to stop baby-sitting his 4-year-old son.

Richard Neely received national attention for controversial remarks at American Legion youth leadership conferences.

In 1990 Richard Neely told the all-male conference that society would be better off if women stayed home with their children.

Richard Neely said drinking, womanizing and fighting in wars are all right until men have a family.