Currently, Democrats control the courts in Jefferson County. All but one of the judges in our courts are Democrats according to an anonymous source. This comprises 13 circuit court judges, 10 family court (district) judges and 16 in the district courts. And all but six are females. It's nearly impossible for men to win a judgeship, but why?

The Kentucky Legislature has considered options for judicial reform and for tort reform. For the latter, perhaps frivolous cases could be avoided if a panel of judges could determine legitimate cases and issue a certificate of merit.

Some in the legal community believe that appointing judges would be a better way than the current political process. Currently, to run for these judgeships, a candidate closes or severely limits his/her own law practice and spends time seeking money to finance the campaign. Most successful, experienced attorneys are not willing to do this, so our current judges may be very young or not significantly experienced in law, and they must accept large amounts of money to finance their campaigns.

The current term of circuit court judges is eight years. Perhaps they could be appointed and then hold a retention election every six years. District/family court judges run every four years. If the governor were to appoint judges, perhaps the Senate could confirm them. There might be a judicial nominating committee that would give the governor a few names from which to choose.

In the same way that our current system favors Democrats, the University of Louisville Law School does as well. Among 32 faculty, only one or two are Republicans. If the minorities (DEI) could be added, why not some Republicans? The 2026 General Assembly may address this need for balance.

As well, the Kentucky Supreme Court is partisan, and if we change the protocol to run as Democrats and Republicans, probably some judges would run as Republicans even though they had formerly been Democrats, in order to try to present themselves to the state as conservative. Our current Chief justice, Debra Hembree Lambert, is a Republican.