A-G's Request for Stay Filed With U.S. Supreme Court

The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office has no idea how long it might take for the U.S. Supreme Court to grant or deny a stay request filed yesterday regarding the state’s sex offender law. Attorney General Jack Conway filed the stay ahead of an appeal to a ruling last month from the Kentucky Supreme Court.The ruling stated a Kentucky law enacted in July 2006 that applied retroactively to convicted sex offenders was unconstitutional because of the retrograde application. The law prohibits sex offenders from living near schools or childcare centers.A-G spokesperson Allison Martin says many others states have similar laws and some have been upheld and some have been struck down.“Attorney General Conway believes the only entity that can look at this and determine what balancing test states should use when passing or enacting laws like this, or enforcing laws like this, would be the United States Supreme Court," says Martin.Conway has asked for the stay until the Supreme Court decides if it will hear the case because under the Kentucky court’s decision, about 55-hundred sex offenders are now free to live near schools and daycares.