Kentucky Supreme Court

Kentucky Supreme Court
Kentucky Supreme Court
	The chamber of the Kentucky Supreme Court
Established	1976
Jurisdiction	Kentucky, United States
Location	Frankfort, Kentucky
Composition method	Non-partisan election
Authorized by	Kentucky Constitution
Appeals to	Supreme Court of the United States
Number of positions	7
Website	Official Website
Chief Justice
Currently	Laurance B. VanMeter
Since	January 2, 2023

The Kentucky Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Prior to its creation by constitutional amendment in 1975, the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky. The Kentucky Court of Appeals is now Kentucky's intermediate appellate court.

Criminal appeals involving a sentence of death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment of twenty years or more are heard directly by the Kentucky Supreme Court, bypassing the Kentucky Court of Appeals. All other cases are heard on a discretionary basis on appeal from the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

The Kentucky Supreme Court promulgates the Rules of Court and Rules of Evidence. Through two of its subagencies, the Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions (KYOBA) and Kentucky Bar Association (KBA), it is the final arbiter for bar admissions (KYOBA) and discipline (KBA).

In the event that two or more justices of the Kentucky Supreme Court recuse themselves from a case, the Governor of Kentucky appoints Special Justices to sit for that particular case.

The court meets in a courtroom located on the second floor of the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort. The second floor of the capitol building is also home to offices for the justices and Supreme Court personnel.

The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), under the aegis of the Kentucky Supreme Court, serves as the administrative support agency for Kentucky courts and Circuit Court Clerks. The role of the AOC is similar to that of the Legislative Research Commission (LRC) for the Kentucky General Assembly.

Notable cases

In its short history, the Kentucky Supreme Court has not produced much jurisprudence of note. A study published in 2007 by the Supreme Court of California found that of all state supreme courts in the United States, the decisions of the Kentucky Supreme Court were the least followed by other states' appellate courts.^[1]

Notable decisions of the Kentucky Supreme Court include Kentucky v. Wasson, 842 S.W.2d 487 (Ky. 1992), in which the court invalidated the criminalization of same-sex sodomy as a state equal protection violation. This Kentucky decision, based on the Kentucky Constitution, was made at a time when the applicable federal equal protection precedent was Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986), which held that federal constitutional protection of the right of privacy was not implicated in laws penalizing homosexual sodomy. In 2003, the United States Supreme Court reversed itself and overturned Bowers, issuing a decision in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) that mirrored Kentucky's Wasson ruling.

In Cameron v EMW Women's Surgical Center et al. (2023), the Court upheld Kentucky's total abortion ban by holding that abortion providers lack standing to challenge the statutes on behalf of their patients. The Court did not rule on the constitutionality of the ban.^[2]

Current justices

Justices are elected in nonpartisan elections to eight-year terms. In case of a vacancy the governor makes an appointment from a list of three names provided by the Kentucky Judicial Nominating Commission.

District	Justice	Born	Joined	Term ends	Appointed by	Law school
5th	Laurance B. VanMeter, Chief Justice	(1958-08-28) August 28, 1958 (age 66)	February 7, 2017	2024	—^[a]	Kentucky
3rd	Debra H. Lambert, Deputy Chief Justice	–	January 7, 2019	2026	—^[a]	Kentucky
6th	Michelle M. Keller	1960 (age 63–64)	April 3, 2013	2030	Steve Beshear (D)	Northern Kentucky
1st	Christopher Shea Nickell	1958 or 1959 (age 65–66)	December 11, 2019	2030	—^[a]	Kentucky
7th	Robert B. Conley	(1958-07-19) July 19, 1958 (age 66)	January 4, 2021	2028	—^[a]	Northern Kentucky
2nd	Kelly Thompson	1947 or 1948 (age 76–77)	January 2, 2023	2030	—^[a]	Kentucky
4th	Angela McCormick Bisig	1964 or 1965 (age 59–60)	January 2, 2023	2030	—^[a]	Louisville

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Took office after being elected in a nonpartisan election.

References

^ Jake Dear and Edward W. Jessen, " Followed Rates" and Leading State Cases, 1940-2005, 41 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 683, 694(2007).
^ "Cameron v. EMW Women's Surgical Center, P.S.C."

External links

Website of the Kentucky Supreme Court
Database of Kentucky Supreme Court Opinions Archived 2009-09-17 at the Wayback Machine

[Elect-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Took office after being elected in a nonpartisan election.

[1] Jake Dear and Edward W. Jessen, " Followed Rates" and Leading State Cases, 1940-2005, 41 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 683, 694(2007).

[2] "Cameron v. EMW Women's Surgical Center, P.S.C."

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[2]

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Notable cases

Current justices

See also

References

External links