3 nominated to fill court vacancy in Jefferson County

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – The Judicial Nominating Commission, led by Chief Justice of Kentucky John D. Minton Jr., announced nominees Tuesday to fill the vacancy in Jefferson Family Court.

Jefferson makes up the 30th Judicial Circuit and the vacancy is in the circuit’s Family Court Division 2.

The three nominees for the Family Court judgeship are attorneys Bryan Daniel Gatewood of Fisherville, Douglas Scott Haynes of Louisville and Shelley Montgomery Santry of Louisville.

Gatewood owns the law firm of Johnson & Gatewood, where he is a solo practitioner handling family law and other cases. He also serves as a prosecutor for the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office. He received his juris doctor from the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law.

Haynes practices family law with the firm of Fernandez, Haynes & Maloney. He received his juris doctor from the University of Washington Law School.

Santry is a professor and clinic director for the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law Ackerson Law Clinic. She has served as a guardian ad litem in Jefferson Family Court for 10 years. She received her juris doctor from the University of New Hampshire School of Law.

The judicial seat became vacant when Judge Hugh Smith Haynie Jr. retired Jan. 17.

Family Court is a division of Circuit Court and has primary jurisdiction in cases involving family issues, including divorces, adoption, child support, domestic violence and juvenile status offenses.

The Judicial Nominating Commission helps fill judicial vacancies by appointment when a vacancy occurs outside of the election cycle. The Kentucky Constitution established the JNC. Ky. Const. § 118; SCR 6.000, et seq.

When a judicial vacancy occurs, the executive secretary of the JNC publishes a notice of vacancy in the judicial circuit or the judicial district affected. Attorneys may recommend someone or nominate themselves.

The names of the applicants are not released. Once nominations occur, the individuals interested in the position return a questionnaire to the Office of the Chief Justice. Chief Justice Minton then meets with the Judicial Nominating Commission to choose three nominees.

Because the Kentucky Constitution requires that three names be submitted to the governor, in some cases the commission submits an attorney’s name even though the attorney did not apply. A letter naming the three nominees is sent to the governor for review. The governor has 60 days to appoint a replacement and his office makes the announcement.

The commission has seven members. The membership is comprised of the chief justice of Kentucky (who also serves as chair), two lawyers elected by all the lawyers in their circuit/district and four Kentucky citizens who are appointed by the governor.

The four citizens appointed by the governor must equally represent the two major political parties, so two must be Democrats and two must be Republicans. It is the responsibility of the commission to submit a list of three names to the governor and the governor must appoint a judge from this list of three.

The Administrative Office of the Courts in Frankfort is the operations arm for the state court system. The AOC supports the activities of nearly 3,400 court system employees and 406 elected justices, judges and circuit court clerks. As the fiscal agent for the state court system, the AOC executes the Judicial Branch budget.