www.loubar.org 4 Louisville Bar Briefs PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE Articles of Impeachment Set Stage for Rare Debate Chief Judge Ann Bailey Smith Articles of Impeachment have been filed against Justice Pamela Goodwine of the Kentucky Supreme Court. Justice Good- wine won election to the Supreme Court in November 2024 from the Fifth Appellate District which comprises Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Jessamine, Madison, Scott and Woodford Counties. She is one of only a handful of judges who has presided in district court, circuit court, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. She practiced with Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs prior to beginning her judicial career. In February of this year, she was awarded the Justice William E. McAnulty Jr. Award by Chief Justice Debra Lambert for Justice Goodwine’s outstanding service and dedi- cation to the Kentucky Court of Justice. In spite of her noteworthy credentials, she is facing possible impeachment. Here is the backdrop which led to this accusation. Section 59 of the Kentucky Constitution prohibits the General Assembly from enacting legislation as to local or special acts concerning the management of pub- lic schools. Section 60 of the Kentucky Constitution provides that “The General Assembly shall not indirectly enact any special or local act by the repeal in part of a general act, or by exempting from the operation of a general act any city, town, district or county….” Senate Bill 1 was en- acted in 2022 which limited the obligations and duties of a school board in reference to its superintendent “in a county school district in a county with a consolidated local government adopted under KRS Chapter 67C.” At the time of its enactment, Senate Bill 1 only applied to Jefferson County of the 120 counties in Kentucky. Senate Bill 1 places limits on the number of times the Jefferson County School Board can meet, gives the superintendent spending power, grants the superintendent rule-making ability which can only be disapproved by a supermajority of the school board, gives the superintendent authority over day-to- day operations of its strategic plan regard- ing Jefferson County schools and extends the superintendent’s responsibility to any administrative duty not explicitly granted to the school board. The Jefferson County School Board chal- lenged this legislation in a lawsuit which was heard by Judge Charles Cunningham Jr. (22CI2816). After briefing and arguments, Judge Cunningham found Senate Bill 1 to be unconstitutional as it constituted im- permissible local legislation affecting only Jefferson County. The Court of Appeals affirmed (2022-CA-0964) and the Ken- tucky Supreme Court granted discretion- ary review. Justice Shea Nickell wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justice Debra Lambert and Justice Robert Conley and Chief Justice Laurance Van Meter, reversing the Court of Appeals. Russell Coleman v. Jefferson Co. Board of Education, et al., 2023-SC-0498-DG. The majority concluded that, while this leg- islation currently only applies to Jefferson County and acknowledging that this will not change in the foreseeable future, this does not run afoul of Kentucky Constitution Section 59 because it is always possible that another city may someday qualify as a consolidated local government adopted under KRS 67C resulting in the statute be- ing applicable to another county. The Court held that the appropriate test is found in Calloway County’s Sheriff’s Department v. Woodall, 607 S.W. 3d 557, 573 (Ky. 2020), which identified the inquiry as to whether the statute applies to a particular individual, object or locale. The Court noted that Senate Bill 1 does not specifically refer to Louisville or Jefferson County and does not limit this legislation to this particular locale. Justice Angela Bisig authored the dissent, joined by Justice Michelle Keller and Justice Kelly Thompson, concluding that Senate Bill 1 “blatantly violates” the Kentucky Constitu- tion. The dissent was critical of the Woodall opinion for not including in its analysis whether the legislation is based upon un- reasonable or arbitrary classification, noting for example that the school board in the largest county in the state is limited under this legislation with meeting no more frequently than every four weeks unlike any other school board in the state which does not operate under this restriction. This case was decided by the Kentucky Su- preme Court on December 19, 2024. Chief Justice Van Meter retired as of January 6, 2025, when his successor Justice Pamela Goodwine was sworn in as an associate justice. A petition for rehearing was filed by the school board and Justice Goodwine voted with those who authored and joined in the dissenting opinion to rehear the case. Oral arguments have been heard but a deci- sion has not yet been issued. Then Jack Richardson, an attorney from Louisville and former leader of the Repub- lican party in Jefferson County, petitioned the House of Representatives of Kentucky to impeach Justice Goodwine pursuant to Section 68 of the Kentucky Constitution as she has “breached the public trust and engaged in a variety of inappropriate acts, any one of which constitutes an impeach- able misdemeanor….” Mr. Richardson listed her impeachable misdemeanors as 1) failure to recuse from the school board case where “she had a blatant conflict of interest and an inescapable appearance of bias…” (citing KRS 26A.015 and Rule 2.11 of the Code of Judicial Conduct) because her candidacy for the Kentucky Supreme Court was sup- ported by the teachers union and Governor Andy Beshear who had vetoed Senate Bill 1 but whose veto was overridden; 2) voting for rehearing in violation of Rules of Ap- pellate Procedure because Mr. Richardson asserts that there was no legal justification for her to do so; 3) violating the due pro- cess rights of the litigants by not recusing herself; and 4) her failure to recuse and her vote for a rehearing has undermined faith in the judiciary and the justice system. It is my understanding that there was no mo- tion to recuse filed by a party to this action. Further, Mr. Richardson contends, according to an interview he had with Louisville Public Radio, that the Jefferson County School Board and the teachers union are different sides of the same coin in response to why Justice Goodwine would need to recuse where neither the teachers union nor the governor are parties to the case. If memory serves me right, the school board and the teachers supported different candidates for the recent appointment of superintendent. Also, according to the interview, Mr. Rich- ardson stated that there are a slew of judges who are psychotic, totally detached from reality and this has to stop. On his Facebook page he advocates for handcuffing judges, fingerprinting them and locking them up (Continued on next page) “ According to a post on the National Constitution Center’s website, “the impeachment of state- level supreme court judges is rare, noting that “The National Council of State Legislatures could only cite a handful of instances in a special website section on the subject of impeachment.” The Zoppoth Law Firm anniversary th 30 as Kentucky’s Premier Boutique Business Litigation Law Firm Scott Zoppoth [email protected] Brad Zoppoth [email protected] Liz Mosler [email protected] zoplaw.com | 502.568.8884 is celebrating its
