Kentucky House Republicans formed an impeachment committee Tuesday to consider removing a Supreme Court justice and two other elected officials, all of whom were the subjects of petitions submitted to the chamber during the interim period last year.
Republican House Speaker David Osborne says the General Assembly is required by law to form such a committee whenever citizen petitions are submitted to the House clerk. While the GOP leader has not directly commented on the merits of the petition to remove Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Pamela Goodwine, he has also heavily criticized her role in a decision that is the subject of that petition.
Goodwine was the target of an impeachment petition filed last year by Louisville attorney and GOP official Jack Richardson, who alleged she had a conflict of interest and should have recused herself from a case involving the Jefferson County Board of Education’s challenge of a law limiting the elected board’s power.
If the newly formed committee recommends impeaching any of the three officials, the full House chamber can approve articles of impeachment with a majority vote. The articles would then move to the Senate chamber, where a vote of at least two-thirds of senators to convict would cause the public official to be removed from office.
Read the rest at Louisville Public Media.
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