Pamela R. Goodwine

Pamela R. Goodwine (born 1959 or 1960) is an American judge serving as justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court; she was elected to the court in 2024. She previously held roles as a district and circuit judge in Fayette County and as a judge on the Kentucky Court of Appeals, becoming the first Black woman from Lexington to serve on both the appellate and Supreme Court levels in Kentucky.

Early life Goodwine is from Youngstown, Ohio. After completing high school, she initially pursued a career as a court stenographer, working in Kentucky. Following her undergraduate studies, she enrolled in the University of Kentucky College of Law, where she obtained a J.D. in 1994. This role capped off a career that had spanned nearly 25 years in Kentucky's judiciary, with service at every level from district court to the state's highest court.