Impeached Fayette judge asks KY Supreme Court to stop proceedings

A Fayette County judge who was impeached last week by the Kentucky House of Representatives is taking her fight against the proceedings to the state Supreme Court.

Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Muth Goodman on Tuesday filed a motion for emergency relief after a lower court declined to intervene and halt a former state lawmaker’s impeachment proceedings against her. Goodman claims the impeachment proceedings violate her due process rights.

Before the House voted to impeach, Goodman also sought relief from the state court of appeals, which denied her request March 23. The court of appeals ruled it did not have the power to intervene, and doing so would violate separation of powers in Kentucky’s three branches of government.

“The specific relief Judge Goodman requests is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Kentucky,” the court of appeals order reads.

While Goodman’s latest request is not available yet online, her case appears in the Supreme Court’s onling case filing system. It shows Goodman’s motion, and also confirms the Senate will hear her impeachment case beginning Monday, April 6.

Goodman’s impeachment petition was filed in January by Killian Timoney, a former GOP lawmaker running this year to reclaim the Lexington-area House seat he lost in 2024. Timoney — and lawmakers who supported the impeachment, largely along party lines, with Republicans in favor — argue Goodman abused her office and should be removed from the bench.

They cite six particular cases in Goodman’s court as grounds for misconduct.

Goodman was impeached by a vote of 73-14 in the House. If the Senate convicts her, she would be removed from the bench and barred from holding public office.

But before a House impeachment committee considered whether to advance the impeachment petition, Goodman asked a Franklin County Circuit Court to stop the proceedings.

When Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd denied her request, saying that intervening in the process would violate the state’s separation of powers, she took her claim to the appeals court, and now the state Supreme Court.

This story was originally published March 25, 2026 at 11:32 AM.

Taylor Six

Lexington Herald-Leader

Taylor Six is the criminal justice reporter at the Herald-Leader. She was born and raised in Lexington attending Lafayette High School. She graduated from Eastern Kentucky University in 2018 with a degree in journalism. She previously worked as the government reporter for the Richmond Register.