FRANKFORT — Kentucky House lawmakers have ended impeachment proceedings against state Supreme Court Justice Pamela Goodwine and Fayette County school board chair Tyler Murphy.
The Lexington Herald-Leader first reported that the House Impeachment Committee would not advance the legislature’s two remaining impeachment petitions. A House GOP spokesperson later confirmed the decision to the Kentucky Lantern.
The controversy behind the petition to remove Goodwine — tied to a Republican effort to reduce the elected school board’s authority in Jefferson County — returned to a House committee on Wednesday. Lawmakers had already approved a separate bill that could lead to Murphy’s removal.
The impeachment petition against Goodwine arose from a Supreme Court ruling in December that struck down a 2022 law intended to shift authority from the Jefferson County Public Schools board to its superintendent. A similar Republican-backed Senate bill was reviewed in a House committee Wednesday morning and received approval in a second meeting later that day.
Lawmakers began examining the impeachment petition against Goodwine and others in January. At the time, Goodwine stated through her attorney that “the petition has no merit and should be dismissed.”
After her election to the Kentucky Supreme Court in 2024, Goodwine cast the deciding vote to overturn a previous ruling and invalidate the 2022 law, which applied only to JCPS and would have transferred power from the school board to the superintendent. Republican lawmakers and Attorney General Russell Coleman criticized the decision.
According to the petition, Louisville attorney and GOP official Jack Richardson accused Goodwine of having a “blatant conflict of interest and an inescapable appearance of bias” in the case involving Jefferson County school governance due to campaign donors.
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, whose political action committee supported Goodwine, had originally vetoed the 2022 law, but the General Assembly overrode that veto. Richardson also argued it was inappropriate for Goodwine to rehear and rule on the case because an independent PAC, heavily funded by the Jefferson County Teachers Association, supported ads promoting her election.
Senate Republicans introduced a similar bill this year. Unlike the previous version, it outlines multiple reasons lawmakers believe the state’s largest school district should be treated differently. Senate Bill 1 was discussed Tuesday in the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee, but members did not vote to advance it. Chairman Scott Lewis, R-Hartford, said a meeting could be scheduled later to revisit the legislation.
Goodwine’s attorney, Carmine Iaccarino, previously submitted a detailed response to the committee, including a 14-page letter requesting dismissal of the petition. The response argued that she did not violate state law or judicial conduct rules and warned that impeachment would undermine the will of voters who elected her by a large margin.
In 2024, Goodwine defeated Erin Izzo with about 77% of the vote, becoming the first Black woman elected to the Kentucky Supreme Court.
Iaccarino emphasized that impeachment—especially of a judge—is rare in Kentucky and cautioned that removing Goodwine could politicize the court.
“The Kentucky Supreme Court should not be the subject of the sort of gamesmanship that Mr. Richardson’s petition will invite. To impeach a Justice of the Supreme Court — let alone remove her — based on an independent expenditure by a non-party to the litigation at issue and in which no party to that litigation moved for recusal, would weaponize the recusal and removal process itself,” Iaccarino wrote. “Such a rule would perpetuate political gamesmanship and threaten the Court by allowing interested actors entirely outside the litigation to manufacture conflicts and disqualify justices through means beyond their control. If such tactics are allowed to work in the judicial branch, rest assured, they will be tried elsewhere.”
Iaccarino did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday morning.
The petition seeking the removal of Fayette County Public Schools Board Chair Murphy was filed by Rep. Matt Lockett, R-Nicholasville.
The House amended Senate Bill 4 to restructure school boards in Louisville and Lexington and to bar Murphy from serving because he works for another school district. The Senate rejected those changes Tuesday, and the bill is expected to move to a conference committee.
Only one impeachment case from this year now remains with the Senate. On Tuesday, Rep. John Blanton of Salyersville, vice chair of the impeachment committee, delivered articles of impeachment against Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Goodman to the chamber after the House approved the action last week.
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