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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Kentucky's largest county will be left with no black judges presiding in any of its trial courts after two African-American judges retire in January.
Janice Martin, who became the first black female judge in the state in 1992, is one of the retirees. She says it puts Jefferson County, which is 19 percent black, back at "square zero."
"It is very disturbing and disheartening," Martin told The Courier-Journal.
Judge Toni Stringer also is retiring, leaving the county without a black judge among the 40 in district, circuit or family courts.
But as many as seven seats are opening in Jefferson district and circuit courts by the end of next month, and one or more of those appointments could go to an African-American attorney.
Some local activists are working to ensure that Gov. Steve Beshear's places a black attorney on the bench in Jefferson County.
The Louisville NAACP has written to the state Judicial Nominating Commission asking that its lists of nominees for the county presented to the governor include African-Americans.
"That is a significant number of openings on the bench and therefore I'm hoping that the disparity can be lessened," said NAACP President Raoul Cunningham.
The Commission on Racial Fairness is working on a resolution that points out the importance of diversity on the bench.
"It is almost unbelievable that we will not have any African-Americans on the trial bench" in Jefferson County, said Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Denise Clayton, who oversees the commission. The commission was created to specifically examine racial fairness in Jefferson County courts.
Clayton, the first black woman to become a Kentucky Circuit Court judge, moved to the appeals court last year.
"The bench should reflect the diversity of the community," she said.
Cunningham said there are shortages of viable black candidates for the bench in Jefferson County.
For example, in the Jefferson commonwealth's attorney's office, only two of 45 full-time prosecutors are black. In the Jefferson County attorney's office, just eight of the 125 prosecutors are black.
Cunningham said his group also has talked with five potential nominees who have expressed interest. He declined to name the attorneys.
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