JUDGES: Olu Stevens, Sadiqua Reynolds and Erica Lee Williams appointed to bench in Jefferson County

Three judicial vacancies filled by appointments in Jefferson County as noted in story from Bluegrass Politics blog.

Beshear notes diversity in appointment of 3 judges in Jefferson County

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear filled three judicial vacancies in Jefferson County Wednesday, naming Olu Stevens, Sadiqua Reynolds and Erica Lee Williams to the bench.

All three appointees are African-Americans. Reynolds is inspector general for the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Beshear called the appointments “record-breaking” and said they mark “the greatest judicial diversity in Jefferson County history, as well as the greatest diversity ever seen by any Kentucky county.”

Before the appointments and since the inception of the unified court system in Kentucky in 1975, only eight African-Americans in the state have been elected circuit or district court judge.

Stevens has been appointed circuit judge of the 30th Judicial Circuit, Division 6. He is the immediate past president of the Louisville Bar Association.

His appointment replaces Martin F. McDonald, who resigned. A selection committee trying to fill the vacancy also nominated Angela McCormick Bisig and Robert S. Silverthorn Jr.

Reynolds has been appointed district judge for the 30th Judicial District, Division 11. She currently is inspector general in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Her appointment replaces Matthew K. Eckert, who resigned. Wanda Mitchell Baker and Jennifer Bryant Wilcox were also nominated by the selection committee.

Williams has been appointed district judge for the 30th Judicial District, Division 17.

She replaces Judith K. Bartholomew, who resigned. Sheila Berman and William H. Mooney were also nominated by the selection committee.

–Jack Brammer

To more fully understand the background of these appointments, I refer you to an op-ed piece that coincidentally appeared just two days before the announcement of these appointments.  I will also share now with you that the background rumors that were circulating almost immediately following the announcement of the vacancies included two of the three appointees.  From the Courier Journal.

Ensuring diversity on the bench

The racial composition of the judiciary in Jefferson County is one area of public policy that has been neglected over the years by all sections of our community. Now we find ourselves in the position of a county with a 20 percent African-American population and no African Americans among the 40 elected judges at the circuit court or district court level.