Two national legal organizations have joined in filing a complaint against the Kentucky family court judge who said he won’t hear adoption cases involving gay people.

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 are asking the Judicial Conduct Commission to remove Judge W. Mitchell Nance from office.

The Courier-Journal reported last month that Nance, who sits in Barren and Metcalfe counties, announced he would no longer hear adoption cases involving “homosexual parties.”

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Nance said that as a matter of conscience he believes that “under no circumstance” would “the best interest of the child be promoted" by adoption by a "practicing homosexual."

But Currey Cook, a lawyer at Lambda Legal, a nonprofit advocacy group for gays and lesbians, said the organization “cannot and will not stand by while this judge ignores the best interests of children in favor of stereotypes that have been thoroughly debunked by well-established social science research.”

Marcosson said that by refusing to hear cases involving an entire class of litigants, Nance is violating the state Code of Judicial Conduct by eroding confidence in the judiciary and failing to perform judicial duties impartially and diligently.

In Nance’s order and a letter to Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr., he said ethics rules require a judge to disqualify himself when he has a personal bias or prejudice.

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If the Judicial Conduct Commission finds a judge has violated rules, it may issue an admonition, a reprimand or a censure, or suspend or remove the judge from office. Citing confidentiality rules, the commission said it could neither confirm nor deny it received the complaint.

All 50 states, including Kentucky, allow adoptions by gay parents after Mississippi’s ban was struck down last year. Researchers at Columbia University found that 75 of 79 scholarly studies found that such children face no disadvantages compared to those raised by heterosexual couples.

Authorities on judicial ethics told the Courier-Journal last month that while judges have a duty to disqualify themselves from individual cases in which they are biased, a blanket refusal to hear cases may violate ethics rules.

Indiana Law School professor Charles Geyh said: "If he is unable to set his personal views aside and uphold the law — not just in an isolated case, but with respect to an entire class of litigant because he finds them odious — it leads me to wonder whether he is able to honor his oath."

Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at 502-582-7189 or awolfson@courier-journal.com.

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