Kentucky Supreme Court says it will not change opinion after voiding Lexington judge impeachment

Taylor Six, Lexington Herald-Leader on Sep 24, 2026

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday it will not change its stance that the state General Assembly wrongfully tried to impeach Lexington Judge Julie Muth Goodman.

Facing significant criticism from Republican lawmakers over decisions she made in court, Goodman was impeached by the Kentucky House earlier this year. The issue was barrelling toward an impeachment trial in the Senate which could have seen her removed from the bench, but the Supreme Court stepped in on April 6 and ruled that the impeachment was wrongful. The impeachment trial in the Senate thus never happened.

Republican lawmakers asked the Supreme Court to reconsider the case and at least hear oral arguments, but after a split vote in which the court failed to reach a majority, the high court said Thursday it would not do so.

“The vote of six members of this Court participating in the determination of this appeal is equally divided,” the order says. “Accordingly, pursuant to Supreme Court Rule (SCR) 1.020, the Opinion and Order rendered by this Court on April 6, 2026, stands as originally rendered.”

In its original ruling in April, the Supreme Court said the impeachment effort violated Goodman’s due process rights, that her offenses were not impeachable, and that impeachment by the legislature was not the proper venue for judicial reprimand.

State Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Middletown, and House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, requested April 27 that the Supreme Court rehear the case, saying the justices had incorrectly constrained the General Assembly’s impeachment power.

Senate President Robert Stivers filed a brief in support of Nemes and Osborne.

Goodman’s attorney, Robert McBride, declined to comment Thursday.

What the lawmakers requested

The Supreme Court formally received the motion from Nemes and Osborne May 28, according to online court records. The motion was originally submitted to the court of appeals and recommended for transfer to the higher court.

In their motion, Nemes and Osborne say the Supreme Court incorrectly interpreted Section 121 of the Kentucky Constitution to determine which body has the power to impeach judges. The petition asked the Kentucky Supreme Court withdraw its opinion invalidating Goodman’s impeachment, rehear the case to allow for a fuller briefing, and to hear oral arguments.

“The Court has turned Kentucky’s most-robust-in-the-nation doctrine of separation of powers on its head, co-opting for itself a power granted explicitly in the text of the Constitution to the General Assembly — most ironically justifying its action on separation of powers grounds,” Nemes and Osborne said in the petition.

The Kentucky House impeached Goodman March 20 in a 73-14 vote, largely along party lines, with Republicans voting in favor.

Nemes was the chair of the House committee that led Goodman’s impeachment.

At the conclusion of this year’s legislative session, lawmakers referred pending removal petitions to the interim joint committee. That included Goodman’s case. It is unclear what effect the order will have on the committee’s proceedings.

Attorney General files additional appeal

Coleman, Kentucky’s Republican attorney general, filed an April 30 appeal of a lower court’s ruling in Franklin County to try to stop enforcement of the Supreme Court’s order.

Before Goodman’s case reached the Supreme Court, she asked several courts, beginning with Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd, to intervene and halt the proceedings, arguing her due process rights were being violated.

While Shepherd could not immediately rule to stop the process, he nullified the formal articles of impeachment. Shepherd wrote that the impeachment petition failed to identify key facts, witnesses, dates and legal violations, and that Goodman lacked fair notice to meaningfully defend herself against the claims.

Shepherd’s ruling is included in an open case of Goodman and former lawmaker Killian Timoney, who filed the impeachment petition against the judge in January; in doing so, Timoney cited six particular cases in Goodman’s courtroom, and her actions in those cases, as grounds for impeachment.

After the Supreme Court voided the House’s impeachment, Goodman filed a motion in that case, suing Timoney for her attorneys’ fees, which he continues to fight in court.

Because the case is still pending, Coleman filed the appeal to try to send the original impeachment filing back before the Supreme Court to be decided.

Coleman’s office was not immediately available for comment.

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