She was re-elected without opposition in 1996, but was narrowly defeated in 2004 by Will T. Scott in a campaign that saw the weakening of restrictions on candidates' statements regarding their views on issues that they might later adjudicate.
In a rematch of their 2004 race, Stumbo challenged Scott for his seat on the Kentucky Supreme Court in 2012, but lost by over 20,000 votes.
[4] During Stumbo's childhood, the family moved to the Floyd County community of Left Beaver Creek, where Charles worked for McDowell Appalachian Regional Hospital.
[2] After graduation, Stumbo enrolled at Morehead State University as an art major, but ultimately earned a bachelor's degree in literature and linguistics in 1976.
[2] She completed one year of graduate school at the University of Kentucky before being accepted into the College of Law, where she earned a juris doctor in 1980.
[4][5] She specialized in divorces, workers' compensation, federal black lung claims, and personal injury cases.
[2][5] Because she was already part of a law firm that incorporated her maiden name, Stumbo chose not to take her husband's surname after their marriage.
[4] Her opponents in the non-partisan primary election were Richard L. Elswick, who had been appointed by Governor Wallace Wilkinson to fill the vacancy on an interim basis; and Barkley J. Sturgill, chair of the Kentucky Public Service Commission.
[9] The Lexington Herald-Leader wrote that Stumbo generally sided with consumers and workers against businesses and with defendants in criminal law cases, but noted that there were exceptions.
[10] She returned the case to the Public Service Commission, but also scolded two of the commissioners for secretly meeting with LG&E about the settlement terms.
[10] When Dan Jack Combs announced in mid-1993 that he would retire from the Kentucky Supreme Court for health reasons, Stumbo declared her candidacy for the November special election to succeed him.
[15] Combs pulled the ad from the radio, but responded that, "I don't think there could be anything more partisan and political than Grady Stumbo's conduct," referring to his earlier endorsement of his distant cousin.
[16] Governor Jones subsequently appointed Combs to the seat Stumbo had vacated on the Court of Appeals.
[5] The Lexington Herald-Leader noted that early in Stumbo's career, she shared some of the "libertarian" views as Dan Jack Combs, the justice she replaced on the court.
[20] Scott also aired commercials criticizing many of Stumbo's decisions on the Supreme Court, including upholding legislation to end workers' compensation payments when the payee reached 65 years old, overturning a murder conviction that was eventually confirmed, and absolving from criminal liability a drunken driver who killed an unborn child in an automobile accident and a mother whose child was abused by her boyfriend.
[5] She also taught a mock trial class at a summer camp for high school students at Western Kentucky University.
The Committee said Stumbo had not updated her campaign website in a timely manner to reflect the fact that Barber had paid his delinquent property taxes.
[26] In November 2011, Stumbo announced she would challenge Scott for his seat on the Kentucky Supreme Court when his term expired in 2012.
[19] They said an ad by Scott referencing Stumbo's vote to overturn convictions of two black men accused of murdering a pregnant white woman was misleading because the women depicted in the ad were not related to the case, and the juxtaposition of black defendants with white victims carried racial overtones.
[29] With her term set to expire in 2014, Stumbo filed for re-election and drew a challenger in Pikeville attorney Kent Varney.
[5] The Kentucky Women Advocates presented her the 1991 Justice Award for her work in establishing a women's shelter in Floyd County, her recognition of battered wife syndrome as a legal defense, and her decision to set aside a divorce settlement based on evidence of spousal abuse.
[5][32] In 1995, the organization honored her with its Outstanding Justice Award for her "courageous service on the male-dominated Kentucky Supreme Court" and for pushing the court to broaden the guidelines under which parties could complain to the Retirement and Removal Commission about judges who show bias or allow their staff members to show bias on the basis of gender, race, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status.