Kentucky Supreme Court

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Kentucky Supreme Court
Court information
Justices:	7
Founded:	1975
Judicial selection
Method:	Non-partisan election of judges
Term:	8 years
Active justices
Bill Cunningham  •  Lisabeth Hughes Abramson  •  Mary Noble  •  Will Scott  •  John D. Minton, Jr.  •  Daniel Venters  •  Michelle Keller  •
Former justices

The Kentucky Supreme Court is the court of last resort in Kentucky. Seven justices sit on the Supreme Court and all rule on appeals. In addition, the Supreme Court "establishes rules of practice and procedure for all Kentucky judges and attorneys."

Justices

Seven justices from seven districts create the Supreme Court.

The current justices of the court are:

Judge	Term	Appointed by	Party
Justice Bill Cunningham	2006 - 2014
Justice Lisabeth Hughes Abramson	2007-2014	Ernie Fletcher
Deputy Chief Justice Mary Noble	2006-2016
Justice Will Scott	2004-2020
Chief Justice John D. Minton, Jr.	2006-2014	Ernie Fletcher
Justice Daniel Venters	2008-2019	Steve Beshear
Judge Michelle Keller	2013-2014	Gov. Steve Beshear

Chief justice

The Chief Justice is elected by the other justices for four year terms. The Chief Justice serves in an administrative role over the courts. On May 12, 2008, John Minton was elected as the fifth Chief Justice of Kentucky. "I am honored by the vote of my colleagues," said Justice Minton in response to being elected chief justice. "I look forward to working with the members of the Court and the Court of Justice family in service to the citizens of the Commonwealth." "Justice Minton is an outstanding scholar and a person of unquestioned integrity," said former Chief Justice Lambert. "His experience serving as a judge for three levels of Kentucky courts equips him well to be an outstanding chief justice. I am delighted with his election."

Jurisdiction

All appeals involving imprisonment for 20 years or more, life imprisonment, or the death penalty go directly to the Supreme Court; all other appeals are heard by the lower courts, and are only permitted to be heard by the Supreme Court if the Court of Appeals consents.

Judicial selection

The Kentucky Supreme Court chamber.

Justices are elected for eight year terms in non-partisan elections.

Qualifications

For the position of Supreme Court justice, which is an eight year staggered term, the candidate must be a citizen of the United States, a resident of both the Commonwealth, and of the district from which he is elected for 2 years next preceding his taking office and licensed to practice law in the courts of the Commonwealth and a licensed attorney for at least 8 years. The candidate must file with the Secretary of State and the filing fee is $200.00.

Removal of justices

"Kentucky judges may be removed in one of two ways:

• After notice and hearing, the judicial conduct commission may admonish, reprimand, censure, suspend, retire, or remove a judge. The commission's decisions are subject to review by the supreme court.

• Judges may be impeached by the house of representatives and convicted by a two-thirds vote of the senate."

Caseloads

Please note: These numbers include statewide criminal and civil appeals.

Fiscal Year	Civil appeal filings	Criminal appeal filings	Civil appeal closings	Criminal appeal closings
2010	255	216	244	219
2009	265	206	287	280
2008	282	262	329	235
2007	323	257	342	249
2006	392	259	425	295
2005	415	299	424	387
2004	407	330	493	341
2003	501	335	501	420

Salaries

The Chief Justice and the associate justices of the Kentucky Supreme Court make $135,504 annually, as of January 2010.

Notable decisions

History of the court

The Kentucky state capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky, which houses the Kentucky Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Kentucky was created with a constitutional amendment in 1975, releasing the burden from the role that the Kentucky Court of Appeals had had. 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.

Notable firsts

See also

• News: Kentucky court system requests $62 million budget increase, December 15, 2011

External links

• Website of the Kentucky Supreme Court
• Kentucky Law Review
• Justices express concern about Carneal's request: Granting hearing could set precedent

References

2012

To organize the columns, click on the arrows in the column heading.

Candidate	Incumbency	Primary Vote	Election Vote
StumboJanet Stumbo	No		41.9%   D
ScottWill Scott   A	Yes		58.1%   A

2010

See also: 2010 State Supreme Court elections

Incumbent Daniel Venters ran uncontested and was re-elected.

Kentucky Supreme Court XXYEARXX General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Daniel Venters (D)		n/a	n/a

2008

See also: State Supreme Court elections, 2008

Incumbents Lisabeth Hughes Abramson and Mary C. Noble were both re-elected during the 2008 races.

Kentucky Supreme Court 2008 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Lisabeth Hughes Abramson		n/a	55%
Mary C. Noble		n/a	45%

Kentucky Supreme Court 2008 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Mary C. Noble		n/a	n/a