TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Kansas SCR Bill 1611 was passed this past March. It will lead to a crucial vote on whether to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices or not.
The current system starts with a merit-based process, in which the governor chooses one of three nominees to appoint from the Supreme Court Nominating Commission.
Lawmakers passed a bill that would change this process to a state-wide election.
Two representatives with opposing views on how judicial selection should be done in Kansas spoke on judicial selection.
“Kansas’s system is the envy of the nation,” said Micah Kubic, the Executive Director of the ACLU of Kansas.“There are a bunch of other states that have adopted similar systems, but now the legislature wants to upend all of that. They want to go back in time and create a system of direct, partisan elections for Supreme Court justices.”
“The people like the ability to choose their supreme court justices, and I think in Kansas we will find the same,” said Kris Kobach, the Attorney General of Kansas. “I’m confident that Kansans would love to have the ability to decide who sits on the Kansas Supreme Court.”
Since the bill calls for a constitutional amendment, Kansans will vote in August 2026 on whether to make the change in how judges are selected.