On Wednesday, April 15, 2026, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported that a last-minute petition to impeach Family Court Judge Ross Ewing was filed with the Kentucky General Assembly. The petition seeks to remove Ewing, who presides in Kentucky’s 22nd Circuit Court. With only one legislative day remaining, the Kentucky House faces a tight deadline to accept the petition for proceedings to commence.
The petition, filed by Luke Box, calls for impeachment proceedings against Ewing, citing “criminal conduct and judicial misconduct during the 2022 election cycle.” Box alleges that Ewing accepted anonymous, unitemized donations exceeding the legal limit of $2,000, reimbursed himself for undocumented expenses, and directed campaign funds to his spouse. The petition also claims Ewing submitted inaccurate financial reports and filed mandatory disclosures almost 200 days late, allegedly obscuring the source and transfer of $17,481.70 in campaign funds.
According to the petition, Ewing allegedly accepted $5,700 in primary funding from board members of Court-Appointed Special Advocates of Lexington and The Nest, and then donated over $15,700 back to those same organizations. Box has also submitted a complaint to the Judicial Conduct Commission and the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, urging the House to initiate impeachment proceedings.
The impeachment petition is among several filed recently, requesting the legislature investigate the conduct of elected and appointed officials, including Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Goodman and Fayette County Public Schools Board Chair Tyler Murphy. The House previously accepted a petition to unseat Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Pamela Goodwine, but it was later dismissed.
Impeachment proceedings against a Kentucky judge are rare. The House voted to impeach Goodman last month, but the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled the case should not proceed. The Kentucky Senate has suspended its scheduled hearings while awaiting action from the state’s Judicial Conduct Commission.
If the effort is successful, it would mark the first time in Kentucky’s modern history that a judge has been removed via impeachment. It has been over 100 years since state lawmakers have even tried such a maneuver.
Box acknowledged Ewing presided over a legal case he was party to between November 2024 and March 2026. According to court records, there is an active custody case involving someone with the same name being heard in Ewing’s court. Court records also indicate Box has two inactive domestic violence cases, with both complaints filed by the same woman roughly two weeks apart in fall 2024 and subsequently denied.
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader
