Ernesto Scorsone

Who is Ernesto Scorsone?

Ernesto Scorsone is an American lawyer, politician and judge from Kentucky. He was born in Palermo, Italy, on Feb. 15, 1952; his family immigrated to the United States in 1960.

Scorsone earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky in 1973 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1976. After a year of public defender work, he began private practice in Lexington in 1977.

A Democrat, he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives, 75th District, in 1984 and served for 12 years. In 1996, he was elected to the Kentucky Senate from the 13th District and re-elected without opposition in 2000 and 2004. He was the first openly gay member of the Kentucky General Assembly.

In 1998 Scorsone was the Democratic nominee for the open 6th district seat in the United States House of Representatives, but he lost the general election to Republican Ernie Fletcher by seven points. Fletcher would go on to be elected Governor. On August 7, 2008, Governor Steve Beshear appointed Scorsone as Fayette Circuit Court Judge. In November of that year, he was elected to the post without opposition.