FRANKFORT — Kentucky House lawmakers are ending 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 move forward with the legisl ature’s two remaining impeachment petitions. A House GOP spokesperson confirmed that to the Kentucky Lantern.  The controversy that sparked the petition to remove Goodwine — a GOP effort to weaken the elected school board’s power in Jefferson County — was back before a House committee Wednesday.  The House already has approved a provision that would result in Murphy’s removal. The impeachment petition against Goodwine stemmed from a Supreme Court decision in December to overturn a 2022 law aimed at shifting power from the board to the superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools, the state’s largest district. A Republican-backed Senate bill similar to the law deemed unconstitutional was heard in a House committee Wednesday morning and could receive a committee vote Wednesday afternoon. Lawmakers began reviewing the impeachment petition against Goodwine, as well as others, in January. At the time, Goodwine said in a statement by way of her attorney that “the petition has no merit and should be dismissed.”  After Goodwine was elected to the Kentucky Supreme Court in 2024, she supplied the vote needed for the court to reverse a previous decision and strike down the 2022 law, which would have impacted only JCPS and shift power from the school board to its superintendent. The move was criticized by Republican lawmakers and Attorney General Russell Coleman.  According to the petition, a Louisville attorney and GOP official Jack Richardson accused Goodwine of having a “blatant conflict of interest and an inescapable appearance of bias” in the lawsuit over Jefferson County schools’ governance because of donors to her campaign.  Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, whose political action committee (PAC) backed Goodwine, had vetoed the 2022 law, but the General Assembly overrode his veto. Richardson had also claimed that it was improper for Goodwine to agree to rehear the case and rule on it because an independent PAC heavily funded by the Louisville teachers’ union, the Jefferson County Teachers Association (JCTA), backed ads to help elect her. Senate Republicans filed a similar bill this year, though the biggest difference from the law deemed unconstitutional is that it includes dozens of reasons why lawmakers believe the state’s largest school district should be treated differently from others. Senate Bill 1 was up for discussion Tuesday morning in the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee but the committee did not vote to move the bill forward in the legislative process. Chairman Scott Lewis, R-Hartford, said a meeting may be called to vote on the legislation later Wednesday.  Goodwine’s Attorney, Carmine Iaccarino, previously sent a 14-page letter plus other documents to the committee as the justice’s response to the petition. It asked the committee to dismiss the petition, saying she had not violated state laws or the Code of Judicial Conduct. The letter also says that impeaching Goodwine would “reverse the will of a bipartisan electorate that elected Justice Goodwine by an overwhelming, unprecedented margin.”  In 2024, Goodwine defeated Erin Izzo with about 77% of the vote. When Goodwine was elected, she became the first Black woman in state history elected to the Kentucky Supreme Court.  Iaccarino noted that impeachment, let alone impeaching a judge, is rare in Kentucky’s history. He warned that removing Goodwine from the bench would politicize the Supreme 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 a request for comment Wednesday morning.  The petition calling for the removal of Fayette County Public Schools Board Chair Murphy was filed by Rep. Matt Lockett, R-Nicholasville.  The House has amended Senate Bill 4 to remake the school boards in Louisville and Lexington and to disqualify Murphy from serving on the school board because he is employed by another school district. The Senate rejected the changes on Tuesday and the bill is expected to go to a conference committee. Only one of the impeachment petitions filed this year is now in the hands of the Senate. On Tuesday, Salyersville Republican Rep. John Blanton, the impeachment committee’s vice chair, delivered articles of impeachment against Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Goodman to the chamber. The House voted on the matter last week.  The post House won’t act on impeachment petitions against Supreme Court justice, school official appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less