Matthew Glowicki

The (Louisville) Courier-Journal

LOUISVILLE — A Kentucky Family Court judge who refuses to hear adoption cases involving gays and lesbians will resign amid an ethics and misconduct inquiry.

Judge W. Mitchell Nance submitted a letter of resignation to Gov. Matt Bevin on Wednesday, saying he will retire on Dec. 16, according to documents made public Thursday by the state's Judicial Conduct Commission.

In April, Nance drew national attention when he said he would no longer hear adoption cases involving "homosexual parties" because he believes allowing a gay person to adopt could never be in the child's best interest.

The Barren and Metcalf county judge further said he would recuse himself from such cases because ethics rules require judges to do so when they have a personal bias or prejudice.

Last month the commission, which investigates complaints of judicial misconduct and wrongdoing, notified Nance that it was charging him with multiple violations of judicial ethics rules, including those banning bias or prejudice based on sexual orientation.

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It also scolded Nance for creating a local rule for handling cases without prior approval from the state's chief justice.

The commission told Nance it was initiating formal proceedings against him, which could have led to private or public sanctions up to and including removal from office.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, together with the Fairness Campaign, the ACLU of Kentucky and University of Louisville law professor Sam Marcosson filed a complaint with the commission in May asking for Nance's removal from the bench.

The groups argued his actions were eroding public confidence in the courts and showed he was failing to perform judicial duties impartially and diligently.

Chris Hartman, director of the Fairness Campaign, said Thursday that he hopes the resignation sends a message to any other judge with a similar conflict between conscience and duty.

“Judge Nance must have seen the writing on the wall," Hartman said in a statement. "He had proven he could not deliver the basic impartiality required by his office when it came to LGBTQ people and their families."

Nance's attorneys, Bryan Beauman and Scott Miller of Lexington, wrote in a response to the commission that same-sex adoptions presented a "unique crisis of conscience" for Nance, who has a "sincerely held religious belief that the divinely created order of nature is that each human being has a male parent and a female parent."

The attorneys said Nance thought he was doing the right thing by recusing himself from such cases and allowing other judges to hear them "to ensure a fair and impartial outcome."

But they also conceded that Nance now acknowledges he shouldn't have created a blanket order without Supreme Court approval.

Follow Matthew Glowicki on Twitter: @MattGlo