Kentucky Supreme Court Has First Black Woman Justice

Pamela Goodwine Makes History Again as First Black Woman on Kentucky Supreme Court

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.***

“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.”***

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.