She stated that she was running for the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia because West Virginians deserve a fair and impartial court system. She stated that she understands the importance of the role of the Supreme Court as an independent branch of government. She was generally considered the right-most of the four serious candidates in the election. Those she defeated to earn the spot included then-current Justice Brent Benjamin and former Justice and state Attorney GeneralDarrell McGraw.
Once Walker took office, West Virginia had a female majority on the state Supreme Courtfor the first time in history. West Virginia is one of 11 states whose top courts have a majority of women.
Impeachment
Following a series of controversies involving excessive spending, the voted on August 7, 2018 to recommend that Walker and the other three remaining justices be impeached "for maladministration, corruption, incompetency, neglect of duty, and certain high crimes and misdemeanors". On August 13, 2018 the full House of Delegates approved the Judiciary Committee recommendation and impeached Walker. On October 2, 2018, after a two-day impeachment trial, the West Virginia Senate, in a 32-1-1 vote, decided not to remove Walker from office. The Senate later voted to publicly "reprimand and censure" Walker for her actions in the spending scandal.
Earlier career
Prior to taking the bench, Walker was an attorney for West Virginia University Medicine. Prior to that, Walker was a partner in the law firm of Bowles Rice, where she concentrated her statewide practice on labor and employment law for more than 20 years. She has advised large and small employers in a wide variety of industries including manufacturing, energy, health care, financial services, professional services and associations and retail sales. She also has experience representing higher education entities, municipalities, counties and boards of education in the public sector. In 2012, Walker was elected a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, which is an international membership association of more than one thousand of the best and brightest lawyers who practice in labor employment law.
She is a 1999 graduate of Leadership West Virginia and past Chair of that organization's Board of Directors. She also is a past president of the board of Kanawha Pastoral Counseling Center. She is past Board Chair and current board member of Girl Scouts of Black Diamond Council.
