“On August 13, 2018, the West Virginia House of Delegates broke the law,” charges one of five state Supreme Court justices whose egregious misbehavior prompted the alleged law-breaking by the delegates. “On that day, the House adopted numerous Articles of Impeachment setting the petitioner to stand trial before the West Virginia Senate.”
The “petitioner” is Chief Justice Margaret Workman, who is asking the very court that she and her impeached peers occupied to intervene and stop the Senate trial that is the constitutionally-required resolution of their impeachment.
Workman filed a petition for a writ of mandamus with the state Supreme Court last week, arguing that the delegates’ impeachment proceedings violated the principle of separation of powers between judicial and legislative branches of state government and that the Senate trial should not proceed.
Though comically unconvincing in its argumentation, the petition could be used in a freshman composition course as an excellent example of overwriting.
“What nefarious deeds of the petitioner served as the basis for these Articles?” Workman asks. “The petitioner [i.e., Workman] had the audacity to fulfill her constitutional mandate of ensuring that West Virginia courts efficiently serve West Virginia citizens by appointing senior status judges to fill judicial vacancies.”
[Sorry to interrupt, but Workman was not called to account for appointing senior status judges, but for paying them more than state law allows. She knows that, and so do we. Now, back to the self-serving sophistry.]
“She had the audacity to exercise her constitutional authority to pass and utilize a budget for the state’s judicial branch.”
[Ahem. Workman and her co-conspirators are charged with extravagant spending for lavish renovations of their chambers, plus maladministration and lack of oversight.]
“In short, she had the audacity to perform her duties and exercise the powers mandated to her by the West Virginia Constitution.”
[Uh, no. Workman and her fellow justices were impeached in the House, and will be tried in the Senate, starting next week, for failing to perform their duties properly and for exercising powers they did not possess.]
