Beth Walker
Beth Walker was a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. She assumed office on January 1, 2017. She left office on June 27, 2025.
Walker was elected to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals May 10, 2016.[1] She was the chief justice of the court from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2019.[2] She was succeeded in this position by Tim Armstead.[1] To read more about judicial selection in West Virginia, click here.
Walker served as chief justice from January 1, 2023 to January 1, 2025.[3] In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[4] Walker received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[5] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Walker graduated from Hillsdale College in 1987 and received her J.D. from Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in 1990.[6][7] Walker worked as an attorney for the West Virginia University Health System, .[7] She was formerly a partner at Bowles Rice, where she practiced labor and employment law for more than 20 years.[8]
Elections
2016
- See also: West Virginia judicial elections, 2016
Walker ran for the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in 2016. She defeated incumbent Justice Brent Benjamin, former Attorney General of West Virginia Darrell V. McGraw, Jr. (D), former state representative William Wooton, and attorney Wayne King.[9]
She ran for a seat on the court in 2008 as a Republican, but a law passed in 2015 by the West Virginia Legislature made the 2016 judicial elections nonpartisan.[1]
Election results
| West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, Justice Benjamin's Seat, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Beth Walker |
39.62% | 162,245 |
| Darrell V. McGraw, Jr. | 23.08% | 94,538 |
| William Wooton | 20.67% | 84,641 |
| Brent Benjamin Incumbent | 12.47% | 51,064 |
| Wayne King | 4.16% | 17,054 |
| Total Votes (100% Reporting) | 409,542 | |
| Source: West Virginia Secretary of State Official Results | ||
2008
| Candidate | Incumbent | Seat | Party | Primary % | Election % |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Menis Ketchum  [10] |
No | Maynard Seat | Democratic | 27% | 34.8% | |
| Margaret Workman |
No | Maynard Seat | Democratic | 35.9% | 32.9% | |
| Elizabeth Walker | No | Maynard Seat | Republican | 100% | 32.2% | |
| Elliott E. Maynard | Yes | Maynard Seat | Democratic | 19.4% | ||
| Robert Bastress | No | Maynard Seat | Democratic | 17.6% |
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[11]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[12]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Beth
Walker
West Virginia
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Was a registered Republican before 2020
- Endorsed by Republican-affiliated individuals or organizations
Partisan Profile
Details:
Walker was a registered Republican. She donated $10,700 to Republicans. She was endorsed by U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R) and 3rd District Congressman Evan Jenkins (R).
Noteworthy events
Walker impeached by the West Virginia House of Delegates (2018)
On August 13, 2018, the West Virginia House of Delegates approved 11 of 14 articles of impeachment against four of the state supreme court's sitting justices. Of these 11 articles, Allen Loughry was named in seven, Robin Jean Davis in four, Margaret Workman in three, and Walker in one. The article against Walker dealt with alleged misuse of state funds by failure to implement a policy preventing improper spending.[13]
See the table below for further information on the article of impeachment that named Walker.
| Article of impeachment | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Article | Justice(s) charged | Charge | Status |
| 14 | Davis Loughry Walker Workman |
Misuse of funds by failure to implement policy preventing improper spending | Adopted by a vote of 51-44 |
On October 2, the state Senate voted 32-1 not to remove Justice Walker from office. State Sen. Stephen Baldwin (D) was the sole senator to vote for Walker's removal.[14] Baldwin said, "I voted yes because in my mind the evidence presented about Justice Walker’s actions constituted maladministration." Senate President Mitch Carmichael (R), who voted not to remove Walker, said in a statement that he "did not believe that anything that she had been party to would rise to a level where it would overturn the will of the voters in an election by removing her from office."[15]
Senators also unanimously approved a resolution by voice vote publicly reprimanding and censuring Walker. The resolution said the Senate believed Walker "should work to implement reforms to improve the administration of the Court and prevent future inappropriate expenditures and to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations governing the conduct of the Court."[14][15] Click here to read the resolution.
Delegate John Shott (R), acting as a prosecutor, argued Walker acted illegally and unethically in participating in court lunches paid for with state funds. In response to Walker's repayment of one-fifth of the funds for lunches after a local news outlet reported on the costs, Shott said, "The true measure of character is what you do when someone is not looking."[14]
Walker's attorney, Michael Hissam, argued Walker objected to the court's expenditures but did not have the authority to make substantial changes. Hissam also said Walker's office needed work done because it lacked lights, a desk, and a chair. On the lunches, he said Walker "stopped taking the lunches because it wasn’t right. You heard her express her regret."[14]
After the deliberations, Walker tweeted:
Thank you West Virginia Senators for your careful deliberations. I remain committed to serving our citizens and look forward to working with you toward improved budgetary oversight. https://t.co/xnV46Cbawr
— Justice Beth Walker (@bethwalkr) October 2, 2018
State supreme court judicial selection in West Virginia
- See also: Judicial selection in West Virginia
The five justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals are chosen in nonpartisan statewide elections to serve 12-year terms. They must run for re-election when their terms expire.[16]
Qualifications
To serve on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, a judge must be:
- a citizen of West Virginia for at least five years;
- at least 30 years old; and
- practiced in law for at least 10 years.[16]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the supreme court of appeals is selected by peer vote for a one-year term.[16]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a replacement from a list of two to five qualified applicants submitted by a nominating commission.[17] The appointee serves until the next general election, at which point he or she may compete to fill the remainder of the unexpired term.[16]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
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Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 MetroNews, "Beth Walker challenging Justice Brent Benjamin for Supreme Court seat," June 5, 2015
- ↑ WSAZ, "Beth Walker to become chief justice of West Virginia Supreme Court," October 29, 2018
- ↑ West Virginia Public Radio, "Walker Named Chief Justice For 2023," accessed January 4, 2023
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ Martindale.com, "Elizabeth D. Walker - Lawyer Profile" accessed August 8, 2021
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register, "Morgantown Attorney Beth Walker Seeks West Virginia Supreme Court Seat," archived May 13, 2016
- ↑ Beth Walker for Supreme Court, "Meet Beth," archived May 13, 2016
- ↑ WOWK TV, "West Virginia features packed ballot for 2016 election," archived February 4, 2016
- ↑ West Virginia Secretary of State, "2008 Primary and General Election Results" accessed August 8, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ West Virginia Legislature, "House Adopts Articles of Impeachment Against State Supreme Court Justices," August 14, 2018
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Turn to 10, "WV Senate publicly reprimands, censures Justice Walker after voting to keep her in office," October 2, 2018
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 WV News, "W.Va. Senate rejects impeachment, approves censure of state Supreme Court Justice Beth Walker," October 1, 2018
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 National Center for State Courts, "Selection of Judges," accessed August 13, 2021
- ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: West Virginia; Judicial Nominating Commissions," archived January 13, 2012
Federal courts:
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Northern District of West Virginia, Southern District of West Virginia • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of West Virginia, Southern District of West Virginia
State courts:
Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia • West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals • West Virginia Circuit Courts • West Virginia Family Courts • West Virginia Magistrate Courts • West Virginia Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in West Virginia • West Virginia judicial elections • Judicial selection in West Virginia
