CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Her new title won’t officially kick in until Jan. 1, but state Supreme Court Justice-elect Beth Walker has taken the Oath of Office and put on the black robe she’ll wear at times at work for the next 12 years.
“I think the enormity of it hit me when I walked in this room and was honored to put on this robe,” Walker said soon after a formal swearing in ceremony Monday morning in the West Virginia Supreme Court chamber at the state Capitol Complex.
“It’s a big responsibility,” Walker said. “The voters of West Virginia have put a lot of trust in me and I just want to do the very best job that I can upholding the rule of law, keeping politics out of the courtroom and not legislating from the bench.”
Walker was elected to a 12 year term on the state Supreme Court on May 10, 2016 out of a field of five candidates total, including incumbent Justice Brent Benjamin, in what were the first nonpartisan elections for judges in the Mountain State.
Raised in Huron, Ohio, she is graduate of Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan and earned her law degree in 1990 from The Ohio State University.
For 22 years, she practiced law as part of what is now Bowles Rice in Charleston with a focus on labor, employment law and mediation. At times, she argued cases in front of the state Supreme Court.
During her first High Court appearance, she recalled Monday, she namechecked Justice Thomas McHugh in answering a question.
“The only problem, as I realized about a minute later, was that Justice (Thomas) Miller had asked the question and I just called a Supreme Court justice by the wrong name,” she said.
In 2011, Walker moved to Morgantown where she went to work as associate general counsel for the West Virginia United Health System.
“It’s not often that someone achieves a lifelong dream and she has,” said Bob O’Neil, senior vice president and general counsel for West Virginia United Health System. He was one of the three speakers Walker chose to offer comments during Monday’s ceremony.
Among those in attendance were U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), 1st District Congressman David McKinley (R-W.Va.), 3rd District Congressman Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.), Republican members of the West Virginia Board of Public Works, state lawmakers and three current Supreme Court Justices: Justice Allen Loughry, Chief Justice Menis Ketchum and Justice Margaret Workman.
In 2008, Walker lost a bid for the state Supreme Court to Workman and Ketchum.
“It’s not typical to have the opportunity to serve with the two individuals who previously beat you in an election. Chief Justice Ketchum, don’t worry. I won’t tell the story about what you said about me at the Daily Mail editorial board,” Walker said, getting laughs from the crowd.
Loughry, who will take over as chief justice in 2017, administered the Oath of Office to Walker after noting she will be the 77th member of the state Supreme Court.
Walker chose to have the ceremony on Dec. 5, she said, because it would have been her late father’s 80th birthday.
“He was here on the Election Night in 2008 when I lost but, nonetheless, he couldn’t have been more proud of me even though I wasn’t successful and I learned a lot from that,” Walker said.
“Dad taught me not to give up and that you should never forget where you came from,” she said. “I will never give up on my commitment to the rule of law. As a proud West Virginian, I hope in some small way to make a difference as we move ahead in these challenging times.”