Supreme Court Justice-elect Pamela Goodwine addresses supporters on election night at her watch party in Lexington.(Kentucky Lantern photo by Arden Barnes)
LEXINGTON — Judge Pamela Goodwine is no stranger to firsts — she was the first Black woman in Lexington to be district judge and, later, the first to be circuit judge.
She became the first Black woman to serve on the Kentucky Court of Appeals after being elected in 2018.
Now, she’s made history again.
Goodwine won her election Tuesday to the Kentucky Supreme Court, where she will again be the first Black woman, by defeating Lexington attorney Erin Izzo.
The race was called around 8:40 p.m. At her watch party at the Elwood Hotel in Lexington, a crowd of about 40 exploded in applause at the news.
“Being elected to the Kentucky Supreme Court tonight gives me the honor of being the first woman and only the fifth person in history to serve at every level (of the judiciary),” Goodwine said in a short speech just before 9 p.m. “Our campaign stood firmly on experience, honesty and a commitment to impartiality and the rule of law to protect and serve every citizen.”
While justice races are nonpartisan, both Goodwine and Izzo received partisan support. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear backed Goodwine, saying she would be “a really great Supreme Court justice.”
Goodwine’s donors also included former Democratic Govs. Steve Beshear and Paul Patton, as well as Democratic state lawmakers, the Lantern previously reported.
Izzo received GOP support, including an endorsement from the Clark County Republican Party and donations from local Republican groups in Fayette and Madison counties.
Goodwine will fill the 5th District seat now held by Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter, who did not seek reelection. Her win also means women will hold the majority of Kentucky’s Supreme Court seats for the first time.
A life of challenges
Goodwine has overcome challenge after challenge to achieve career successes, according to archived newspaper reporting from the last 30 years.
In foster care as an infant and later adopted by her foster parents, the Youngstown, Ohio, native and high school valedictorian gave up a college scholarship to support her adoptive father who was dying of lung cancer, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported in 2023.
About 6 months after her father was diagnosed, he died. After his death, according to the Herald-Leader, his brother killed her mother.
Goodwine, a young adult, had then lost both parents in tragic circumstances. And, she “had to deal with the judicial system” because of her mother’s murder, she told The Winchester Sun in 2018.
At 24, she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an incurable bowel inflammation condition that can be painful and disruptive to life.
After diagnosis, according to 1995 Herald-Leader reporting, she spent two months hospitalized and had to re-learn how to eat and walk.
She began working in the courts as a legal secretary and court stenographer. She earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Kentucky and in 1994 entered private practice with the firm Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs until her appointment to the district court bench in 1999.
During this fall’s campaign for Supreme Court justice, she lost her granddaughter and great-granddaughter in what her campaign described as a “tragic car accident” in October.
‘An incredibly powerful statement’
Former Gov. Paul Patton appointed Goodwine to serve as an interim district judge in August 1999. Goodwine won her circuit judge seat in 2003 — an “easy” win, according to a Herald-Leader article from the time.
And, she would have been happy to retire in that role, she said in 2003, but had “my eyes set on the stars.”
She “could imagine someday running for a seat on the Court of Appeals or State Supreme Court.”
Now, a little more than two decades later, she’s done both.
She will become the only Black member of the current Kentucky Supreme court and only the second Black justice in the state’s history. The first was Justice William E. McAnulty Jr. of Louisville, who died in 2007.
Ernesto Scorsone, a former Democratic Kentucky state representative, senator and judge, told the Lantern that Goodwine has always been “extremely focused.”
He described her as a woman of “boundless energy” with an “incredible work ethic” and “one of the hardest working people I know.”
Goodwine weathers criticism by staying focused on what she believes is right, Scorsone said.
He also called her win an “an incredibly powerful statement.”
“Having her on the Supreme Court is a fantastic statement to everybody about the ability to break through in our society,” he said, especially when people can see someone who represents them reach such goals.
“I’m a gay man and … as a member of my community, when I see people in positions of power and influence, I mean …that’s (an) incredibly positive thing for us, to see that it can be done,” said Scorsone.
‘A win for Kentucky’
In her victory speech, Goodwine called her win “a win for Kentucky.”
“Along with honesty and integrity, our judicial system is built upon… the values of fairness, impartiality and justice for all,” she said. “As I serve as a justice, and for justice for all, I promise to uphold the rule of law with integrity, to protect the rights of all, and to serve with the honor and honesty that this role deserves and that you deserve.”
Scorsone praised Goodwine for her worth ethic throughout her career and said her representation on the court matters.
“These positions on the Supreme Court — you don’t get them by chance,” Scorsone said. “You really have to work hard.”
“The fact that women have been so successful — that, to me, is very empowering for all the young girls in the state when they’re thinking about careers,” he said. “All of a sudden, being on the Supreme Court is a viable option.”
Goodwine is married to Lee Padgett, Jr. They have five children.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.