In late-night move, KY lawmakers refer impeachment, removal petitions to new committee

With just minutes left in the 2026 legislative session, Kentucky lawmakers quietly referred to a new committee a pair of petitions that took aim at a Kentucky Supreme Court justice and the chairman of the Fayette school board.

The petitions — one that sought to remove from office Fayette County Board of Education Chairman Tyler Murphy, and the other that sought to impeach Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Pamela Goodwine — were sent to a legislative investigations committee late Wednesday.

The move capped a long day of lawmaker grievances with Kentucky’s judiciary. The House adopted a resolution that called a Supreme Court order halting an impeachment effort against a Lexington judge unconstitutional. Both the House and the Senate also adopted resolutions censuring another Supreme Court justice for his opinion in that case, and the Senate demanded the Lexington judge whose impeachment case was stopped be sanctioned by the state’s Judicial Conduct Commission.

Rep. Steven Rudy, R-Paducah, moved to an empty House chamber late Wednesday that Murphy and Goodwine’s petitions be referred to an investigative committee. The announcement was brief and did not acknowledge what prompted their decision to carry the petitions after opting not to act on them during the legislative session.

The petitions will head to the Legislative Oversight and Investigations Committee, which is made up of Republicans and Democrats from both the House and the Senate. It was not immediately clear when that committee would meet.

Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Middletown, who served as chair of the House committee that considered impeachment petitions this legislative session, previously said the petitions against Murphy and Goodwine would not be heard by that committee.

“The impeachment committee will not meet to consider any additional matters, including any remaining impeachment petitions,” Nemes told the Herald-Leader in March. Nemes did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Nemes’ earlier comment came after the House impeached Goodman on March 20 by a 73-14 vote, largely along party lines, with Republicans in favor.

Goodman’s impeachment effort was headed to the Senate for additional hearings this week, but before that body held hearings, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled the effort was invalid. Senate leaders were initially non-committal about whether they would abide by the high court’s order, but they eventually tabled the effort.

The Senate maintained it could still take the effort up again if the Judicial Conduct Commission did not remove Goodman from the bench.

Another petition was filed late Wednesday against Fayette County Family Court Judge, Ross Ewing. His petition will not be heard by the committee because it was not referred to the impeachment committee before the session ended, a legislative spokesperson said.

Open petitions headed to the committee

Attorney and former Jefferson County GOP chair Jack Richardson filed a petition seeking the impeachment of Goodwine, who became the state’s first Black woman Supreme Court justice when she was elected in 2024.

Richardson alleged Goodwine had a conflict of interest in a case involving the Jefferson County Board of Education. Goodwine’s attorney called the petition’s allegations baseless.

In Murphy’s case, Rep. Matt Lockett, R-Nicholasville, filed a petition Jan. 30 to have him removed from office.

Lockett claimed Murphy failed to provide adequate oversight of FCPS finances in violation of state law.

A separate effort to remove Murphy from the Fayette County school board was undertaken by lawmakers through Senate Bill 4, which prohibits school board members from working in another district.

That bill was vetoed by Gov. Andy Beshear, overridden by the General Assembly, and passed into law Wednesday. Murphy filed to run again for his chair seat the same day the General Assembly overrode Beshear’s veto.

It was unclear Thursday if that law would impact Murphy’s petition for removal.

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.