CHARLESTON – After a legal career highlighted by working to protect children, Margaret Workman rightfully is looking forward to having more time to be a grandmother in retirement.
Workman, who just ended her second stint on the state Supreme Court, was the first woman elected to a statewide position when she won her first Supreme Court race in 1988.
“No, I’m not going back into private practice,” Workman, 73, told The West Virginia Record in a recent interview. “When this pandemic is over, I am looking forward to having more time to be a grandmother.
Margaret Workman with her fellow Kanawha Circuit Court judges in 1983.
| Courtesy photo
“I decided a while back that I wasn’t going to run (for re-election). After more than 30 years, it was time to retire.”
Workman also served as a circuit judge in Kanawha County prior to her first Supreme Court term and ran her own practice between her stints on the Supreme Court.
“I’m very proud that I was the first woman elected to any statewide office in West Virginia,” she said. “I had small children then, and people always would ask me, ‘Who’s watching your kids?’ They’d never ask a man that.
“But I am so honored to have had a great opportunity to be a role model for so many women and girls. At one time a few years ago, there were three women on the (five-member) Supreme Court. And, during the time of the impeachments, there very briefly were three women and no men on the court.”
Workman said she worked with 19 or 20 other Justices “of all political persuasions” during her two 12-year terms on the Supreme Court. She is proud that she thinks she worked well with each of them.
“I haven’t had any problem getting along with any of them,” she told The Record. “I always have always been able to work with people even if we had philosophical differences. And I think that is important because you end up spending so much time together.
“It’s good to be pleasant with each other, but I’ll fight to the tooth about an issue I feel strongly about.”
Looking back at her Supreme Court career, Workman says she is most proud of her work to improve family and children’s issues.
“I think I came on the Supreme Court at a time when the court really was transitioning into the modern age,” Workman said. “I credit Justice (Thomas) Miller for bringing it into the 20th Century. And I mean that both in a judicial capacity as well as administrative capacity. We helped shape the court system that’s more effective in dealing with human problems, especially child abuse and negligent, domestic violence and family issues.
“When I was appointed to cases as a young lawyer, I saw that children were treated like parcels. I think I was one of the first Justices to have administrative initiatives. I created the Broadwater Committee, which became the Court Improvement Committee. They always have worked very hard on children’s issues and on improving the court system.”
Workman said her fondest memories are in that same vein.
“I really think some of my good memories are when you feel like you’ve made a real difference in a child’s life,” she said. “The opinions that stand up for people’s rights. On the court, you can write an opinion, or even a dissent, and help the law develop.”
Speaking of dissents, Workman wrote several in the last few years of her time on the bench. But despite being viewed as the most liberal justice in recent years or even the only liberal-leaning justice at times, she said she didn’t want her dissents to be solely about philosophical disagreements.
“There is a tendency of a new court, and this is a new court, to sometimes not stick to the issues of the case. There are philosophical differences, sure. But don’t overreach. Don’t put something into a case or an opinion that shouldn’t be there. That is my issue. Stick to the facts. Stick to the record.
“But also, I tried to stick to the issues in my dissents. It never was a personal attack against somebody.”
Workman said she also cherishes the friendships she has made during her legal career.
“I tell circuit judges they have the best jobs in the world,” she said. “They get the opportunity to see people up close and personal. They have the most power. They decide sentences, juvenile cases, business disputes, money cases. They have a lot of direct authority.
“On the Supreme Court, we have the luxury of hearing arguments and have time to study them. As the last appeal court in the state, having five people – five mind at work – it’s a crucial factor that we don’t make wrong decisions.
“There are five people who take the time to debate the issues. The number one thing for a judge and a justice is to be open-minded. In conference, listen to each other and hear other viewpoints. That process makes our court system be effective on the appeal level.”
Workman said the impeachment attempt and the conviction of former Justice Allen Loughry were dark days for the court.
“Even though there was definitely wrongdoing on the part of one individual (Loughry), I think the impeachment of the entire court was completely politically motivated,” she told The Record. “I did none of the things they charged us with as a group. I spent less money than anyone on renovations. I didn’t drive state cars improperly.
“They wrote the impeachment articles about all five of us. That was a miserable experience, but a great deal of it was politically motivated.”
Still, she said she was ready to fight.
“There was no way I was going to resign,” Workman said. “My integrity is unbesmirched. I wasn’t going to leave the impression I did anything wrong. That’s why I fought back.”
Five acting state Supreme Court justices ruled that prosecuting Workman would have been a violation the state Constitution’s separation of powers clause. The case also went to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the justices declined to intervene.
“Like I said, I had decided I wasn’t going run for another term,” Workman told The Record. “But, the Legislature came to me early on in the impeachment process and said they wouldn’t take away retirement if I promised not to run (in 2020).
“Well, I wasn’t going to make that deal. I wasn’t caving in when I hadn’t done anything wrong. I don’t like being bullied. I wasn’t going to play dead. I wanted to get on a mountaintop and scream that I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Early in 2018 when the other justices decided to remove Loughry from the chief justice post before he was convicted and resigned, Workman was voted in as for her fifth time as chief justice.
She said that was a big job.
“I had to hold the state court system together as well as start restoring people’s respect for the court system,” she said. “We had 1,500 or so employees. It was a very hard time. There were some good people who stepped aside.
“But, I was able to get to know the staff better. We have a lot of staff in Charleston, and we have many others in Kanawha City. I discovered our employees were very demoralized by all of that had happened. They were seeing these renovation expenditures and thinking they hadn’t had a raise in years.
“I sat over there with them for hours at a time, listening to complaints. We put out suggestion and complaint boxes. I wanted them to know they were respected, and they hold this system up. We found inequities in pay, status, all of that. We tried to mesh those out so it was fair to people.
“It was a very tough year, but it was personally rewarding because I got to know so many people. And, those employees do have a better spirit and morale now.
“Like anything, it just takes time. The present members of the court have worked really hard to have a good relationship with the Legislature. There were two things I told my colleagues to do when I leave. Those are to protect kids and to preserve judicial independence. There are three co-equal branch of government.”
As she embarks on a new phase of her life, Workman also wants to work to preserve the memory of two of her children who have died in recent years. Her daughter Lindsay Gardner died in 2016, and a son Teddy Gardner last year.
“Losing them has been so devastating,” Workman said. “It’s the worst thing you can imagine.
“I want to create a foundation to do things in their memories. Lindsay cared about children’s issues as well, so I’ve thought about doing something in Charleston like Lily’s Place in Huntington. It is a place for babies who are born addicted. And Teddy was passionate about human rights and civil rights issues. I’d like to try to find a way to keep that passion alive.
“Both of them were so caring, so smart. They were beautiful souls who truly cared about other people.”