āWhereās Bill Flanigan?ā State Tour Defines His High Court Campaign
There were times during his three years as a member of the House of Delegates when Bill Flanigan sparred hard with his fellow lawmakers over proposed policy because of a little something called the stateās Constitution. He warned them, too. And now that heās been elected to the Supreme Court of Appeals, Flanigan is looking forward to the day when he and his High Court colleagues have the chance to correct those mistakes (while maybe making that āneener-neener-neenerā sound) while interpreting state code the way it was intended. āI'm looking forward to being able to apply the laws as the legislation determines them to be applied. Not how I want them applied, but how they are intended to be,ā Flanigan insisted. āIāve offered amendments to laws I believed were unconstitutional, and some of those amendments were accepted, and some of them werenāt.Ā He wanted to meet as many people as possible during his campaign. and Flanigan came away with a much better understanding about his beloved state. āIām looking forward to the time when one of those laws comes before us,ā he said. āIt will give me the chance to help get it right. I think that's probably one of the coolest things I'm going to be able to do.ā Thatās why he campaigned the way he campaigned. Flanigan visited all 55 counties in West Virginia and didnāt hide his love for the state or for its people while attending a plethora of āMeet and Greetsā hosted by both Republicans and Democrats. He ate all the chicken and roast beef dinners, and, yes, shook every extended hand and kissed baby after baby while meeting all the people and answering all the questions ā the ones heās allowed to answer, anyway ā so he could have the chance to officially fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Justice Beth Walker in June 2025. Along the way, he advised everyone he could to review his legislative career as a check into his character, and people were impressed, Flanigan still believes, that a candidate for the Supreme Court would travel to all corners and valleys of the state. In fact, he credits those trips for his decisive, 114,828-82,477 victory over appointed Justice Thomas H. Ewing on May 12th. At least a few times each week, Flanigan was a guest on Wheeling area radio, and most often he's was on the air while driving across the Mountain State. āI hope people voted for me because of my honesty, and because Iām very upfront with everyone,ā the Justice-elect said. āMy voting record as a legislator speaks to my ideals and what I stand for without me having to say a word because of the restrictions weāre under when speaking publicly and to the media. āI'm hoping that (voting) record helped residents quite a bit when it came to voting for me because Iām proud of my work as a lawmaker. It allowed them to believe that Iām going to stay on point and stay with what the law is,ā he said. āThat was always my main concern because most amendments I put on bills dealt with keeping a law constitutional, and that was something that was always been important to me and always will be.ā Bill missed his wife and family during his two months on the road visiting all 55 counties in the state of West Virginia. That was the plan ā just be Bill ā but it wasnāt easy because Flanigan is a family man. āIāll admit it. I had some tough days during the campaign because I was out there all alone, living out of hotels. I missed my family so much,ā Flanigan said. āAnd it was difficult to get a real meal because I didnāt really have the time to eat at the different functions and events because I was busy trying to speak with everyone. There were a lot of nights at 9 p.m. when I would realize I hadnāt eaten anything. āThen there were other days when I attended three different dinners and had eaten far too much,ā he said with a smile. āI know one of these days Iāll be able to get back to my routines with my diet and working out, but nothing will be normal again thanks to the voters of West Virginia.ā And now he goes to work, and even though Gov. Patrick Morrisey has yet to schedule his swearing-in ceremony, Flanigan has visited Charleston to meet future staff members, to interview prospective clerks, and to gather a lay of this new and exciting land. Flanigan was elected to fill the final two years remaining on retired Justice Beth Walker's term, and then he plans to run for re-election. āThe job description is that we're going to be sitting on top of the West Virginia court system. We make the decisions from the top down,ā Flanigan said. āWe will be reviewing the lower court systems to make sure the laws were applied correctly underneath, and I want to see a better consistency in our courts.Ā āI'll be one of five, and we'll sit down together, listen to arguments, and we'll make the decision on whether the law was followed the first time correctly. And if it wasn't, we will remand it back down with a new order saying, āThis is what we think you need to look atā,ā he explained. āWe get to look at what's preserved that was objected to or appealed, and that's really what we're limited to. āItās about our Constitution. Thatās the job. And I canāt wait to get started.ā Read the full article














