Only twice in the last 200 years have Kentucky lawmakers pursued impeachment against judges, but none were removed from office today.

History was made yet again, as the Kentucky House overwhelmingly voted to impeach a Lexington judge, elected six times to the Fayette Circuit Court for abuse of office and misconduct.

An impeachment petition was filed by a former state representative who's seeking reelection to a seat he lost two years ago.

As our June Leffler reports, though a vast majority of lawmakers voted to impeach Judge Julie Muth.

Goodman.

Others say there's a reason this rarely happens and shouldn't be happening now.

That begins tonight.

It's a legislative update.

Today, the case was made that Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Goodman should be impeached.

Judge Goodman ought not be a judge in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

This lawyer and state representative chaired a committee that voted to bring articles of impeachment against Goodman, who testified earlier this week.

The petition that jumpstarted the proceeding cites her conduct in six cases where she allegedly abused her power and circumvented the oversight of others.

Judge Goodman sees herself as a law unto herself if she does not like a statute enacted by the General Assembly.

She disregards it if she disagrees with the binding precedent of the Court of Appeals of the Supreme Court.

She now says she will not follow it if she believes a prosecutor is acting improperly.

She conducts her own investigation and renders her own verdict without notice, without A40, and without regard for the constitutional role of the grand jury or the Pettit jury.

If she believes a party deserves her protection, she says so out loud from the bench on the record in terms that make her impartiality impossible to defend.

The House minority leader and others question why this is happening now.

Impeachment is an extraordinary constitutional remedy.

It must be exercised with restraint and only upon clear showing of a misdemeanor a crime.

In office, the standard has not been met here.

Where is the crime?

The legislature's most recent impeachment subject, a Commonwealth attorney, was accused and later convicted of criminal charges for fraud and bribery.

From what I can tell, Mr.

Speaker, we've had four impeachments in our history, and most of those have been based upon a crime committed.

It sets a standard that many in our judiciary will question, and it seeks to overturn the will of the voters in Fayette County for reasons that have never been considered grounds for impeachment of a judge before.

So we're setting a new standard this morning.

If we do this.

Before this vote.

70 lawyers wrote a letter against impeachment, saying it would chilled the Society of Judges and muddled the balance of power between the judiciary and the legislature.

Still, the House did vote to impeach.

In a 73 to 14 vote, largely along party lines.

I am terrified at the precedent of not moving forward.

If knowingly disregarding the law is not an impeachable offense.

What is the Senate will take it from here by conducting a trial at some point this year.

Senators will have to decide if Goodman should be removed from her job, and if she should be barred from public office in the future.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Gene Leffler.

Thank you.

June.

Yesterday, Governor Andy Beshear also said the impeachment of Judge Goodman could set a bad precedent.

We'll discuss this more on our inside Kentucky Politics segment that's coming up in just a few minutes.