A Kentucky group is considering ways to help retain judges with traditional values who are targeted for standing true to their beliefs.
Judge W. Mitchell Nance has informed the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission that he is resigning, effective December 16. Martin Cothran of the Family Foundation of Kentucky explains the Fairness Alliance – a pro-LGBT group in Louisville – had filed a complaint with the Commission against Nance, who presides over family court for Barren and Metcalfe counties.
"He had followed the law that says that if you feel like you have some kind of bias in a case then you're supposed to recuse yourself," he tells OneNewsNow. "So he recused himself from cases where he had to place children in same-sex households because he felt it was not in the best interest of children."
In such cases, according to Cothran, Nance would refer cases to other courts.
Cothran has publicly criticized the judicial integrity of the Commission and admits he has a problem with the way it is set up and the authority it has in dealing with complaints against judges.
"This is just another instance of a government agency being used as a stick to beat conservative Christians with," he adds, "and ... it's not just that [the process is] ideological and ... directed against conservative Christians, it's that it's not even fair."
The Family Foundation of Kentucky is working on avenues to determine whether there's a way to make the process fair and to prevent the commission from acting in an ideological way – as it apparently is doing in the Judge Nance case.