West Virginia’s M.C. Escher Supreme Court impeachment process

The ongoing controversy over the impeachment of current and former members of the West Virginia Supreme Court reminds me of one of those mind-bending images by the artist M.C. Escher where stairs appear to be ascending and descending at the same time. The people in the pictures are caught on a kind of gravity-defying treadmill.

Consider where we are now with impeachment. Acting state Supreme Court Justices—the current Justices disqualified themselves or did not participate—blocked the impeachment trial of current Chief Justice Margaret Workman, concluding that the Legislature did not follow its own rules for impeachment and violated the separation of powers doctrine.

So, does the Supreme Court or the Legislature have final say over how impeachment is conducted? Which branch has the authority to arbitrate that Constitutional conundrum?

(Brad McElhinny has more here.)

House Speaker Roger Hanshaw is convinced the acting Justices of the Supreme Court have overstepped their authority and have upset the balance among the equal branches of government. The Court believes anyone who is impeached can argue before it that their constitutional rights have been violated.

Each side believes the argument is fundamental to preservation of the separation of powers principle, that this is about more than whether Justice Margaret Workman goes on trial.  Yes, it is in the abstract, but there is also a pressing need for a practical solution. Lawyers can keep arguments going interminably, but to what end?

Going forward, the Senate will likely file a motion for the Court to reconsider its decision and the House will join that action, explaining to the Court why it believes the impeachment process has been conducted properly.  The Court then could change its mind and allow Workman’s impeachment trial to go forward.

Or the House could reconvene, make the procedural changes necessary to abide by the Court’s initial ruling and decide whether to re-impeach Workman, former Justice Robin Davis and suspended Justice Allen Loughry.

Both of those alternatives feel like more—but perhaps necessary—plodding on Escher’s staircases, but maybe there is no other way.  Unfortunately, the Senate missed an opportunity to bring a quick and appropriate end to impeachment when it rejected proposals to censure Workman and Beth Walker*, drop impeachment against Davis because she had already resigned, and pursue removal against Loughry.

Escher said, “We adore chaos because we love to producer order.”  Well, the impeachment process is halfway there.

*(Walker has already had her impeachment trial. She was acquitted, but the Senate did vote to censure her.)

 

 

 





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