Kansas Senate President Tees Up Debate On State Supreme Court Appointment Process

By Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

March 1, 2022

TOPEKA — Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson is asking the Legislature to consider two constitutional amendments overhauling the state Supreme Court judicial selection process.

Currently, vacancies are filled using a merit-based process Kansans voted to add to the state constitution in 1958. A nine-member panel nominates three candidates for Supreme Court justices, and the governor appoints one to the Supreme Court.

After a new justice serves one year on the court, he or she must stand for a retention vote in the next general election to remain in the position. If retained, the justice serves a six-year term.

The resolutions, if passed, would provide Kansans an opportunity to vote on either removing what some called the “federal model” or modifying the election retention process.

“We already have the Value Them Both amendment and this year, I’d like to see not just life but liberty and pursuit of happiness on the ballot,” said Senate President Ty Masterson. “Whether it’s the federal model or elections, we need a new system.”

The current merit-based system was a response to the triple play scandal, where, after defeat in the 1956 election and the resignation of a Supreme Court justice, Incumbent Governor Fred Hall resigned from his post and had his former Lt. Gov. appoint him as the replacement justice. While legal at the time, the unethical sequence of events led to the resolution of this amendment.

While the exact details of the resolutions and amendments are unclear, this is not the first time Masterson has endeavored to make this change. In 2019, he championed a failed resolution to switch the method to a model where the governor’s appointments would be subject to Senate confirmation, similar to how the process works for the Court of Appeals.

In 2016, the Kansas House voted in favor of a constitutional amendment to similarly overhaul the process but the proposal fell short of the necessary two-thirds supermajority.

In 2013, then Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law a measure eliminating a nominating commission for the Court of Appeals, although this was later reversed.

In the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Kellie Warren, a Leawood Republican and panel chairwoman, told colleagues there would be an informal hearing on the subject Friday.

“This is an issue that’s been around for many years around the Capitol,” Warren said. “In the Kansas Supreme Court, we do not have Senate confirmation or other processes other than the one we currently have in place.”

Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes argued the current system has served the state well for decades and did not warrant a change.

“Changing this now only politicizes the process, something the legislature has made clear it’s all too willing to do thanks to our action on Carl Folsom’s nomination to the Kansas Court of Appeals,” said Sykes. “Our state’s judicial branch cannot afford the degradation of public trust that would ensue, and I will not support changes to our constitution like this that will weaken our democracy.”

This story was originally published by Kansas Reflector For more stories from the Kansas Reflector visit Kansas Reflector.