Stepping down — 04/27/08

Sat, May 17 2008

— As chief justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court, Joseph Lambert will be most remembered for helping to build 70 new courthouses across the state — including a completed one in Grayson and another one now under construction in Catlettsburg — and overseeing the creation and expansion of family courts and drug courts. That’s a good legacy for a justice who is better known for building courthouses than for writing profound and insightful rulings.
Lambert, 59, announced Thursday that he is retiring effective June 27 to join the state’s senior judge program, in which retired judges work part time to help clear backlogged cases.
The timing of Lambert’s retirement is not at all surprising. The 2008 Kentucky General Assembly refused to extend the senior judge program, and it will expire July 1. By entering the program before it expires, Lambert can earn about $40,000 a year in addition to his full retirement by hearing cases on a part-time basis.
Lambert has spent the last 22 years on the state’s highest court, including the last decade as chief justice. His retirement will make Will T. Scott of Pikeville the longest serving of the seven Supreme Court justices — and Scott has been on the high court for only three years. The other justices will elect the new chief justice.
Lambert proposed the 2002 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution creating family courts. It was adopted with 75 percent of the vote. Family courts currently exist in 71 of the state’s 120 counties. They have improved the administration of justice by allowing one judge to hear all family issues, including divorce, child custody and support, and child abuse.
Under Lambert’s leadership, Kentucky has become a national leader in the creation of drug courts, which offer drug and alcohol treatment as an alternative to incarceration. Now existing in 115 counties, drug courts have shown that those who complete their treatment programs are far less likely to commit new crimes than those who are jailed for drug-related crimes.
In 2006, Lambert became involved in a controversy when he said in a footnote to an unrelated case that a sitting governor could not be prosecuted while in office. Instead, the governor would first have to be impeached.
Other legal experts disagreed with the chief justice, but that footnote effectively ended any prosecution of Gov. Ernie Fletcher on misdemeanor charges until after he left office. It also set a potentially dangerous precedent. Suppose a sitting governor were charged with a serious felony. Would the General Assembly have to impeach that governor before he (or she) could by prosecuted?
While Lambert, a Republican, was criticized for adding his view in an unrelated case to help a fellow Republican, the chief justice was not known as an ideologue on the bench. In fact, Shannon Ragland, editor and publisher of Kentucky Trial Court Review, said Lambert “didn’t have a particular judicial philosophy.”
While we did not always agree with Lambert, the drug courts and family courts he was instrumental in creating have helped hundreds of drug and alcohol addicts receive the treatment they need and have helped assure fair and consistent rulings on critical family matters.