West Virginia update: Senate censures Justice Walker but does not remove her from office
The West Virginia Senate voted 32-1 on Tuesday not to remove from office Justice Beth Walker of the state Supreme Court of Appeals. 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.”
State Sen. Stephen Baldwin (D) was the sole senator to vote for Walker’s removal. Baldwin said, “I voted yes because in my mind the evidence presented about Justice Walker’s actions constituted maladministration.”
Senators also unanimously approved by voice vote a resolution 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.”
West Virginia House Del. John Shott (R), acting as a prosecutor, argued Walker acted illegally and unethically in participating in court lunches paid for with state funds.
Michael Hissam, Walker’s attorney, argued Walker objected to the court’s expenditures but did not have the authority to make substantial changes. On the lunches, Hissam said Walker “stopped taking the lunches because it wasn’t right. You heard her express her regret.” Hissam also said Walker’s office needed work done because it lacked lights, a desk, and a chair.
The proceedings will continue on October 15 with the trial of Chief Justice Margaret Workman. Workman was named in four articles of impeachment.
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