By William “Skip” Deegans
Shown in this undated photo is former Monroe County cattle farmer Jim Sprouse speaking to coal miners. It may have been taken when he first campaigned for governor of West Virginia in the 1960s. Sprouse was raised in Mingo County. As a young man, he distinguished himself as a boxer and won the Golden Gloves championship. He attended St. Bonaventure University and received a law degree from Columbia University. He was awarded a Fullbright Scholarship to study international law at the University of Bordeaux in France. In World War II, he was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart as an infrantryman.
Sprouse settled in Charleston where he became a labor lawyer and was counsel to the AFL-CIO. In 1968, he was the Democrat candidate for governor and lost to Republican Arch Moore by less than 13,000 votes (Moore was later sentenced to prison for mail and tax fraud, extortion and obstruction of justice). Sprouse ran again in 1976 but lost to Jay Rockefeller in the primary election.
President Jimmy Carter nominated Sprouse to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1979. Judge Sprouse moved his office to Lewisburg and lived on his farm in Monroe County. He wanted law clerks who did not necessarily share his values or views. Consequently, he hired an eclectic group of clerks, including women and minorities. For many of his clerks, moving to a small rural town was a cultural shock, but they adapted. One of his former clerks, Jane Sullivan, is married to Supreme Court Justice John Roberts.
When Sprouse retired in 1995, Senator Sam Ervin wrote, “The Prophet Micah admonishes us ‘to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.’ This Judge Sprouse had done.” Jim Sprouse died in 2004.
Sources: West Virginia Law Review, Washington Post, Williamson Daily News, Charleston Gazette.
