Former Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes has been cleared of ethics charges stemming from allegations that the one-time Democratic rising star abused her access to voter registration data to benefit herself and fellow Democrats.

Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled Monday that Grimes legally accessed the data while “acting in the scope of her public duties” as secretary of state.

“It is unclear how the commission can penalize the commonwealth’s chief election official for having access to voter data, or downloading it to a flash drive when it has failed to identify any illegal or unethical use of such data,” Shepherd said in his order.

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Grimes had faced a $10,000 fine after the state Executive Branch Ethics Commission said that she committed ethics violations by improperly ordering the downloading and distribution of voter registration data. The judge’s reversal of the commission’s order means Grimes won’t have to pay the fine.

Jon Salomon, one of Grimes’ attorneys, said Tuesday that the ruling vindicated Grimes.

“Secretary Grimes should have never been investigated for simply doing the job that Kentucky voters twice elected her to do, and the court has appropriately cleared her of all charges,” he said in a statement.

The commission said Tuesday that it is reviewing the matter.

Grimes was seen as a rising political star when she was first elected secretary of state in 2011. She launched a high-profile challenge against longtime Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2014 but was soundly defeated. She rebounded to win reelection as secretary of state in 2015, when Republicans claimed most statewide offices. The only other Democrat to win that year was Andy Beshear, who was elected attorney general then and is now in his second term as governor.

The ethics commission’s allegations against Grimes stemmed from activity in 2015 and 2016. Grimes was accused of failing to follow government processes in downloading and sharing voter information.

She was accused of acting unethically by instructing her employees to download voter information onto flash drives while she was running for reelection and sharing voter registration information for state House districts, all without complying with open records rules or collecting fees.

Shepherd ruled that the allegations were “arbitrary and without the support of substantial evidence.” The judge said there is no law or regulation that prohibited her from accessing or sharing the information.

He noted that the long-running matter drew “exhaustive” investigations from the ethics commission and the state attorney general’s office, after which “there was no allegation concerning any substantive violation of any statute or regulation regarding the integrity of the voting rolls.”

Republican Michael Adams succeeded Grimes as Kentucky’s secretary of state. Adams’ office on Tuesday noted the changes made to state law in response to the allegations against his predecessor.

“Because of the scandals that preceded Secretary Adams in this office, the General Assembly in 2019 limited direct access to the voter file, and our administration has followed the letter and the spirit of the law,” Adams’ spokeswoman, Michon Lindstrom, said in a statement.

The judge also ruled that the ethics commission failed to meet the statute of limitations when bringing the claims against Grimes.

The commission’s charges followed a 2019 series from the Lexington Herald-Leader and ProPublica. The two news organizations published stories on Grimes’ conduct as secretary of state.

A western Kentucky man on death row for killing three children, raping their mother and setting their home ablaze has died, officials said Tuesday.

Kevin Wayne Dunlap, 51, died Sunday after being transported to a hospital from the Kentucky Penitentiary in Eddyville, Kentucky Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lisa Lamb said. She said federal regulations prevented her from releasing any further information.

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Dunlap pleaded guilty in 2010 to attacking the woman in 2008 and killing her children at the home in Roaring Springs before burning it to the ground. A jury recommended a death sentence.

Dunlap approached the victim as she worked in the yard and asked to see the house, which was for sale, on Oct. 15, 2008. Once inside, he pulled a gun and zip-tied her hands and ankles. When the children came home, he tied them up and put them in a different part of the house.

The children killed in the attack were ages 5, 14 and 17. A medical examiner determined each of the children died from multiple stab wounds.

After being raped and stabbed, the mother faked her own death and escaped the burning home.

Defense attorneys sought to have the death sentence vacated, but the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld it. Justices found that a judge committed no errors in allowing Dunlap to admit to the killings and have a jury decide only if he would be condemned to death or face a lesser sentence.

Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines called President Joe Biden’s overhaul of Title IX the “most anti-woman” pursuit of this administration as six other states filed a lawsuit challenging the new provisions on Tuesday. 

Speaking at a virtual press conference attended by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, Gaines spoke at length about the overhaul which aims at safeguarding LGBTQ+ students and changing the ways in which sexual harassment and assault claims are adjudicated on campus. 

“This is the most anti-woman, anti-reality pursuit we have seen from this administration thus far,” Gaines, an OutKick contributor who hosts the “Gaines for Girls” podcast, said. 

“Across the country and in various sports, males are entering women’s athletic competitions, being given spots on women’s teams, and being granted entry into our locker rooms. To date, males have stolen over 943 trophies, medals and titles from women and girls across 458 different competitions and in over 31 different sports. But the harm they cause is exponential, as every time a man even competes in an event or makes a team, a female athlete loses an opportunity to race, a spot on that team or playing time on the field.”

Gaines also expressed concern over women’s spaces, including in locker rooms. 

“Allowing males to compete in women’s sports is risky, it is unfair, it is discriminatory, and it is regressive. And it must stop. Which is exactly why we have been so tenacious in this pursuit for sex-based protections. I know that the six attorney generals, including General Skrmetti and General Morrisey, will not quit until women and girls sports, spaces and opportunities are for women and girls only.”

Riley Gaines, a former All-American University of Kentucky swimmer, speaks before Florida Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis at the Greenville Convention Center on Friday, June 2, 2023. (MCKENZIE LANGE/Staff/USA TODAY NETWORK)

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While the administration’s new rules broadly protect against discrimination based on sex, they do not offer guidance around transgender athletes, but many Republican states argue that they could be interpreted as such.

Tuesday’s filing, co-led by Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky and joined by Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana, also challenges the authority of the rewrite. 

“The new rules expand the definition of Title IX sex discrimination to include gender identity, which is something that’s just not consistent with the text of the statute,” Skrmetti said Tuesday. 

“In our system, Congress makes the law. Our elected representatives are the ones who are given the authority and the ability to create laws for the country. The federal agencies are not able to rewrite those laws. And so we’re saying that the attempt by the Department of Education to expand the definition of sex discrimination runs afoul of our separation of powers, the fundamental principle of American government.” 

President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“There are a group of states that are stepping up today that are saying that’s not acceptable,” Morrisey added. “It alienates women’s privacy. It implicates women’s security. It puts them in jeopardy of having fairness and justice in terms of participation in sports. Obviously, it also opens up the door to significant First Amendment and federalism issues. And those are just some of the reasons why you have these six states stepping together and fighting against this very radical policy.” 

Skrmetti said despite the risk of not receiving federal education funding, states should “push back.” 

“I would say that every state across America needs to say no to this radical rewrite of Title IX. And if the federal government is going to try to impose unlawful interpretations on the states, it’s critical that the states push back. I’m always hopeful that it doesn’t come to the federal government taking away some of the economic opportunities for women and for some of these schools. But I also think it’s critical that we say no to these radical rewrites, because at the end of the day, the states play a very critical role in our system of constitutional governance, and we cannot allow the federal government to just run roughshod over states rights.” 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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