West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Beth Walker has announced that she’s retiring in June, which brings up a slightly worrying prospect: Her replacement, at least until 2026, won’t be elected, but appointed.
Walker, 60, has every right to decide when to hang up the gavel. It’s fair to ask why, considering she ran for reelection in 2016 knowing that it’s a 12-year term and wouldn’t be up until 2028. The counterpoint to that is it’s hard to predict in 2016 how one might feel about the job in 2025. Plenty of state Supreme Court justices have left early and appointees have held spaces before, though that hasn’t always been a good thing.
Walker survived the 2018 purge of the Supreme Court following a spending scandal and federal investigation. She was censured, while two fellow justices jumped ship and a third was sentenced to two years in federal prison, all while the West Virginia Legislature was attempting to impeach the entire bench. The sordid saga was a circular firing squad, with plenty of blame to go around for justices and lawmakers alike.
Regardless, trust in the state’s highest court had bottomed out by the time the dust had settled. Then-Gov. Jim Justice was left with two vacant seats to fill, and he tapped then state House Speaker Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, and former Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., also a former state legislator, to fill them. Justice putting two conservative politicians on the bench when West Virginia had only just made judiciary elections nonpartisan in 2016 didn’t send a reassuring message.
A reelection campaign commercial Justice ran in 2020 touting his appointment of “the most conservative Supreme Court in state history†was also damaging on at least two fronts. First off, justices shouldn’t be conservative or liberal, but follow the rule of law. Secondly, the ad made it seem like judiciary appointments at the highest level were the regular purview of the governor, when, in fact, these are elected positions. As a byproduct of the entire scandal, by the time the next election was conducted, Armstead and Jenkins had the benefit of two years of incumbency.
Now, Gov. Patrick Morrisey will be appointing Walker’s replacement, who will also have the benefit of incumbency heading into the 2026 election. The situation around Walker’s retirement is obviously very different from what happened in 2018. And Walker can take some credit for helping rebuild the court’s reputation. Still, her replacement will have an advantage in the next election.
Considering the GOP supermajority that controls the Legislature tried to make judicial races partisan again this past session, one would assume Morrisey is looking for someone with a Republican pedigree. What that means in 2025 is a lot different than what it meant in 2016 or even 2018.
What West Virginia needs is a judge beholden to the rule of the law, not a particular political ideology or radical view of the court’s role in government. Here’s hoping Walker’s replacement fits the bill.
