“Eight Ways to Sunday”: Which Direction, Kentucky Supreme Court?

Attempted synthesis of the rulings of Kentucky’s highest court threatens to go the proverbial “eight ways to Sunday.” For one thing, although Kentucky is not very populous and its Supreme Court sharply limits discretionary review, still literally thousands of opinions have been rendered by the Court and its predecessor, the Kentucky Court of Appeals, which prior to 1975 was the only appellate court in the Commonwealth. Also, great diversity of judicial philosophy among the Court’s members has resulted in sometimes warring opinions that make divergent points resembling the scattershot of a Kentucky dove hunter.

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