Defense lawyers, KY attorney general argue whether judge’s impeachment is proper

Defense attorneys and the state’s attorney general filed briefs with the state Supreme Court arguing whether the Kentucky General Assembly is the proper authority to impeach a sitting judge.

Defense lawyers from across Kentucky claim that judges’ sanctions should come from an independent commission instead, while Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman contended that power rests with state lawmakers.

The question came to the forefront of the current legislative session after the House of Representatives voted this month to impeach Fayette County Circuit Judge Julie Muth Goodman.

Killian Timoney, a former Republican lawmaker seeking to win back his Lexington-area House seat this year, filed the impeachment petition in January, arguing Goodman had abused her office.

As Goodman’s impeachment process gained momentum and now faces an upcoming trial in the Senate, Goodman has asked the courts to step in and stop the proceedings, arguing they violate her due process rights.

Goodman also argues she cannot defend herself in the impeachment case, as most of the cases cited remain active, and she is ethically bound as a judge to avoid commenting on them.

A Franklin Circuit Court denied her first motion for emergency relief. Then the Kentucky Court of Appeals declined to intervene, so she took the fight to the state’s highest court.

And as Goodman’s career came under the microscope of Kentucky lawmakers, many, including former state attorneys general and defense lawyers, have questioned whether the legislature is overstepping its authority.

Here’s what the parties wrote in their briefs to the state’s highest court.

AG Coleman: General Assembly is the proper venue

Coleman’s office argues that the Kentucky Constitution plainly grants the power of impeachment to the state’s legislature.

“The impeachment powers of the General Assembly shall remain inviolate,” Coleman wrote in his Supreme Court filing, quoting from the Kentucky Constitution.

Coleman said he does not take a position on whether the House of Representatives was right to impeach Goodman, or whether the Senate should remove her from office. Although he has not publicly commented on the content of the impeachment case, he did intervene in three of the six cases cited in her impeachment petition.

Both the circuit court and court of appeals declined to take up Goodman’s emergency requests, saying it could be a violation of separation of powers. In their opinion, the court of appeals said the ultimate authority lies with the Supreme Court.

However, Coleman said if the Supreme Court stepped in, the judiciary would be overstepping their authority.

“For any and all of these reasons, the court should let the impeachment proceedings against Judge Goodman run their course,” Coleman wrote. “This court need not take a position either. Under our Constitution, the only branch of government with the authority to take a position is the Kentucky General Assembly.”

Goodman, defense attorneys say impeachment improper

Goodman has repeatedly argued that she has not committed any impeachable offenses.

In her filing to the Supreme Court, she argued the same, saying that her offenses — being rude to prosecutors and making unpopular rulings — do not rise to the level of being removed from office.

Six cases were cited in Goodman’s petition, including one in which she dismissed a murder indictment against a man charged in a fatal hit-and-run.

And aside from the content of the impeachment case, Goodman and her attorneys argue the state’s Judicial Conduct Commission would be a more proper venue for judicial complaints. As for perceived incorrect rulings, they say, higher courts can, and have, issued corrections.

Goodman’s attorneys say the Kentucky Constitution indicates only the JCC can discipline judges, “and they may not be subject to the General Assembly’s impeachment power.”

Goodman argues the word “inviolate” was used in the Constitution to protect the General Assembly’s right to impeach, but it does not necessarily mean they are the proper avenue for such a maneuver when it comes to judges.

A brief filed by the Kentucky Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, a nonprofit dedicated to providing justice for the criminally accused, agreed. The group referenced multiple changes to Kentucky’s Constitution over centuries that changed the removal process for judges to the JCC, and not the legislature.

The KACDL brief cites the 1974 Judicial Article, which unified Kentucky’s court system, and created an independent commission explicitly for the purpose of sanctioning or removing judges.

“This sentence does not provide the General Assembly with the power to impeach judges,” KACDL wrote. “Rather, it simply confirms that the constitutional grant of all judicial power to the judicial department does not deprive the General Assembly of its traditional power to impeach.”

The Supreme Court has not ruled on or set a hearing for Goodman’s motion.

Goodman’s impeachment proceedings are expected to begin in the Senate April 6.

This story was originally published March 30, 2026 at 12:14 PM.

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.