John Thomas Copenhaver Jr. (September 29, 1925 – May 12, 2026) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. At the time of his death, Copenhaver was the last actively serving district judge appointed by President Gerald Ford.
John Thomas Copenhaver Jr.
West Virginia Southern District Court
Born 1925 in Charleston, WV
FJC ID: 508
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 3/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 37/year
West Virginia Southern District Court · 1976–
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
Adjunct professor · 1970–1976
Faculty member · 1970–1976- Private practice, Charleston, West Virginia1951–1958
Law clerk , Hon. Ben Moore · 1950–1951
U.S. Army1944–1946
Appointments
- 1976–2018 · Appointed by Gerald Ford (Republican)
Education
- West Virginia University College of LawLL.B. · 1950
- West Virginia UniversityA.B. · 1947