Kentucky Senate vows to revisit Lexington judge's impeachment if judicial group doesn't act

Taylor Six and Hannah Pinski, Lexington Herald-Leader on Apr 15, 2026

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Senate voted to table impeachment proceedings against Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Muth Goodman but vowed to return to the issue if a judicial oversight commission does not act on misconduct accusations against the judge on the final day of session.

On Wednesday morning, the Senate impeachment committee voted to table impeachment proceedings against Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Muth Goodman.

Members of the committee doubled down on claiming the General Assembly was the proper venue for potential judicial sanctions, despite an April 6 Kentucky Supreme Court ruling that such accusations should be handled by the Judicial Conduct Commission.

That commission is already considering the claims against Goodman

The Senate later in the evening adopted the resolution, Senate Resolution 297, to pause the proceedings via a voice vote. A few Democrats opposed the measure.

Goodman was impeached by the Kentucky House on March 20 in a 73-14 vote, largely along party lines, with Republicans voting in favor. The case was then headed to the state Senate for a trial, where Goodman could be convicted and removed from office, an unprecedented move in Kentucky’s modern history. But this month, the state’s highest court ruled the effort was invalid and should not proceed.

Members of Senate leadership were noncommittal for several days about whether the body would move forward with scheduled impeachment hearings this week, but late Tuesday, Senate President Robert Stivers said the effort was being suspended. The action, Senate Resolution 297, urges the Judicial Conduct Commission to reprimand Goodman and remove her from the bench.

At Wednesday’s committee hearing, Sen. Brandon Storm, R-London, said lawmakers were not aware the JCC was already investigating Goodman. Complaints filed with the commission are largely private.

Goodman’s lawyers argued — and the Kentucky Supreme Court agreed — the commission exists to investigate claims of judicial misconduct, and that power does not rest with Kentucky lawmakers.

But Storm and Stivers emphasized Wednesday morning the Senate could take up proceedings at next year’s legislative session — or earlier — if they don’t agree with the JCC’s findings.

“It is unfortunate that the existence of that (inquiry) was not known to the House when the inquiry early in the process was requested,” Storm said. “I cannot stress enough that the actions this committee takes today are driven by two factors only: the Senate’s duties under the Constitution and fairness to the defendant.”

State Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, a Louisville Democrat, voted to table the impeachment, but said she would vote against any action to move the petition forward.

“The Supreme Court ruled that further action would be unconstitutional, and my preference would be that this body clearly state its intention to comply with that order,” Armstrong said.

Jamie Neal, the spokesperson for the Administrative Office of the Courts, declined to comment.

Goodman’s attorney, Robert McBride, said the Senate had no choice but to table the matter because the Supreme Court had ordered they could not move forward.

“The reckless conduct of the House put the Senate in this position, and it managed to limit its own authority,” McBride said in a statement to the Lexington Herald-Leader. “Now, the House cannot ignore the statute that applies to a citizen petition, violate an individual’s due process rights, or claim that the Constitutional standard for impeachment is whatever they say it is.

“An office holder may only be impeached for criminal conduct or an extreme act of moral turpitude while in office,” McBride continued. “That means the House cannot lawfully impeach a sitting judge or justice because they do not like their rulings. The House’s incursion into the independence of the judiciary by means of impeachment is over.”

Goodman’s impeachment petition was filed in January by former Kentucky lawmaker Killian Timoney, a Republican seeking to regain his Lexington-area seat. Timoney claimed Goodman had abused her office and ignored the law, citing as evidence six particular cases in her courtroom.

The Kentucky Supreme Court, in invalidating the petition, ruled that Goodman’s conduct was not impeachable, the General Assembly was not the proper venue for judicial sanctions and the impeachment petition was improper because it was missing a notary’s signature.

The previous schedule included three days for prosecutors from the House to present their case to a Senate committee, followed by three days of Goodman’s defense, before the case would advance to the full Senate beginning April 24.

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