House Resolution No. 39
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegates Staton and Trump)
"Commemorating the life and lamenting the death of the Honorable
Elizabeth V. Hallanan, Senior District Court Judge for the
Southern District of West Virginia, a model of judicial
integrity, pioneering accomplishments and extraordinary public
servant."
Whereas, Elizabeth V. Hallanan was one of the very few women to
attend West Virginia University Law School in the 1940's and as she
later recalled it "was 135 men and me".
Elizabeth Hallanan was admitted to the State Bar in 1951 and
she practiced law when she was not involved in public service. In
1956, she was elected to the House of Delegates from Kanawha
County; in 1957, she was appointed as Assistant Commissioner of
Public Institutions; and in 1959, she was the first woman to
preside over a trial-level court in West Virginia, when Governor
Cecil Underwood appointed her to become a Kanawha County Juvenile
Court Judge. President Ronald Reagan appointed her as the first
woman Federal District Court Judge in West Virginia in 1983; and
Elizabeth Hallanan was a champion of women, encouraging them
to seek positions of responsibility in the public and private
sectors and she was a protector of children as she ordered major changes in how child support is collected and used to improve the
welfare of children. She was at the center of the controversy over
the enactment of legislation to allow school-led silent prayer in
West Virginia's schools when as a devout Roman Catholic, she struck
down the law after she became convinced that it violated the
establishment of religion clause in the First Amendment to the
Constitution.
Judge Hallanan was known to run her courtroom firmly, but with
dignity and courtesy and she was interested in other people - to
her, everyone was on the same level. In the end, the news of her
death was overshadowed by the death of President Reagan who
appointed her to the United States District Court, but her life, as
a model of judicial integrity, pioneering accomplishments as a
woman in positions of authority and responsibility traditionally
held by men and her sense of fairness and respect for people, is
truly a life well lived; therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Delegates:
That the members of the House of Delegates hereby express
gratitude for the outstanding life and accomplishments of the
Honorable Elizabeth V. Hallanan, Senior District Court Judge for
the Southern District of West Virginia, and lament her death on
June 8, 2004, at the age of seventy nine, leaving as a legacy for
all West Virginians a model of judicial integrity, pioneering
accomplishments and a life well lived; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates
prepare certified copies of this Resolution for her niece, D. Blake
Hallanan, great niece Caroline Hallanan and nephews Walter Simms
Hallanan III and Paul M. Hallanan.
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