KY Supreme Court strikes down new law giving attorney general right to change venue
The Kentucky Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a new state law that allowed the attorney general to intervene in constitutional challenges against state agencies and have them moved from Franklin Circuit Court — often an unpopular venue for Republican lawmakers — to another courthouse somewhere in the state.
Senate Bill 126 is itself unconstitutional because it violates the separation of powers, allowing the legislative branch to instruct the judicial branch on how to handle its case assignments, Chief Justice Laurance VanMeter of Lexington wrote for the court’s 6-to-1 majority.
When there is due cause, VanMeter wrote, there are procedures for people to request a judge to recuse himself from a case or allow a case to be transferred to a more neutral venue.
But the new law allows parties in constitutional challenges against the state to have their case be randomly assigned elsewhere, outside of the capital city of Frankfort, in an arbitrary search for a potentially friendlier judge, he wrote.
“It operates to vest a certain class of litigants with the unfettered right to forum shop, without having to show any bias on the part of the presiding judge or just cause for removal,” VanMeter wrote.
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear raised similar concerns when he vetoed the Senate bill on March 24, calling it “a legislative power grab to control Kentucky courts.” But the Republican super-majorities in the House and Senate easily overrode Beshear’s veto.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Robert Conley of Catlettsburg said the new law “is not perfect and is somewhat awkwardly crafted,” but it’s also legally defensible.
“The General Assembly has a constitutional power to regulate venue, and in adjusting the warring interests involved in venue determinations it cannot be frozen in amber because of judicial discomfort with the unfamiliar. The General Assembly must be allowed to experiment in an area that it clearly has authority to act,” Conley wrote.
Republican lawmakers long have complained about suffering unfavorable rulings in Franklin Circuit Court while battling Beshear and other Democratic politicians. They have filed legislation to bypass that court on a number of occasions.
They also unsuccessfully backed a candidate to replace one of the Franklin circuit judges last year.
In the case related to Thursday’s high court ruling, Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron asked for a change of venue to a circuit court outside of Frankfort for a lawsuit regarding “gray market” gambling machines. Cameron is a defendant in that case.
The legislature last winter passed a bill to ban the machines from gas stations, bars and convenience stores across Kentucky, prompting the legal challenge by companies and organizations affected by the ban.
The case now returns to Franklin Circuit Court for further action.
