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Caleb Stegall
2014 - Present
2029
10
Caleb Stegall is a judge of the Kansas Supreme Court. He assumed office on December 5, 2014. His current term ends on January 8, 2029.
Stegall ran for re-election for judge of the Kansas Supreme Court. He won in the retention election on November 8, 2022.
He was first appointed to the court by Gov. Sam Brownback (R) on August 29, 2014.[1] Stegall was selected from three judges chosen by the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission to fill the vacancy left by Nancy Moritz, who was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.[2] To read more about judicial selection in Kansas, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[3] Stegall received a confidence score of Strong Republican.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Stegall previously served on the Kansas Court of Appeals. He also worked as the county attorney in Jefferson County, Kansas, and as chief counsel to Brownback.[5]
Biography
Stegall earned a bachelor's degree from Geneva College in 1993 and a J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1999. He clerked for Deanell Tacha on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit from 2000 to 2001.[6]
He then worked as an associate at Foulston Siefkin in Topeka, Kansas, from 2001 to 2005. He also published The New Pantagruel, a Christian online magazine, from 2004 to 2006.[7] He was a managing partner at Stegall & Associates in Perry, Kansas, from 2005 to 2011.[6]
Stegall was a county attorney in Jefferson County from 2009 to 2011 before becoming chief counsel to Gov. Sam Brownback (R) for three years. He joined the Kansas Court of Appeals in 2014, where he served for less than a year before being appointed to the Kansas Supreme Court.[6]
Elections
2022
See also: Kansas Supreme Court elections, 2022
Kansas Supreme Court, Caleb Stegall's seat
Caleb Stegall was retained to the Kansas Supreme Court on November 8, 2022 with 72.9% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
72.9
|
639,624 | ||
No |
27.1
|
237,864 | |||
Total Votes |
877,488 | ||||
|
|
2016
- See also: Kansas Supreme Court elections, 2016
Stegall was retained by voters in 2016, receiving 71% support.[8]
2014
Stegall was appointed to the Kansas Supreme Court by Gov. Sam Brownback (R) on August 29, 2014, to fill the vacancy left by Nancy Moritz.[1]
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Caleb Stegall did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[9]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[10]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Caleb
Stegall
Kansas
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through Bar Association controlled judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Held political office as a Republican
- Was a registered Republican before 2020
- Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
Partisan Profile
Details:
Stegall served as chief legal counsel to Gov. Sam Brownback (R) from 2011-2013. He was a registered Republican prior to 2020. Stegall donated $750 to Republican candidates and organizations. He was appointed to the Kansas Court of Appeals in 2013 and the Kansas Supreme Court in 2014 by Brownback. At the time of his appointments, Kansas was a Republican trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in Kansas
- See also: Judicial selection in Kansas
The seven justices on the Kansas Supreme Court are selected through the assisted appointment method. The Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission is responsible for providing the names of nominees to the governor, who must then select a justice from that list.[11] The commission is made up of nine members, one lawyer and non-lawyer from each congressional district and one additional lawyer who serves as chairperson. The four non-lawyers are appointed by the governor. Four lawyers are elected by members of the Kansas State Bar in each congressional district. The fifth lawyer is elected by a statewide vote of members of the Kansas State Bar.[11]
Newly appointed justices serve for at least one year, after which they must stand for retention in the next even-year general election. If retained, the justice serves a six-year term and must stand for retention every six years after that point to remain in office.[11]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must:[11]
- have at least 10 years of active and continuous law practice in the state;[12]
- be at least 30 years old; and
- be no older than 75. If a sitting judge turns 75 while on the bench, he or she may serve out the term.
Chief justice
The court's chief justice is chosen by seniority. He or she is the longest-serving justice on the court and serves as chief indefinitely.[13] Upon his or her retirement, the justice with the next-longest tenure on the court becomes chief justice.
Vacancies
If a midterm vacancy occurs on the court, the seat is filled as it normally would be if the vacancy occurred at the end of a judge's term. A judicial nominating commission recommends qualified candidates to the governor and the governor selects a successor from that list. The new appointee serves for at least one year and then stands for retention.[14]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kansas.com, "Caleb Stegall sworn in as Kansas Supreme Court justice," December 6, 2014
- ↑ The Wichita Eagle, "Gov. Sam Brownback names former aide Caleb Stegall to Supreme Court," August 29, 2014
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ Lawrence Journal-World, "Brownback appoints his chief counsel, Caleb Stegall, to the Kansas Court of Appeals," August 20, 2013
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Kansas Judicial Branch, "Caleb Stegall," accessed June 25, 2021
- ↑ The American Conservative, "Farewell To The New Pantagruel," September 22, 2006
- ↑ Kansas SOS, "2016 General Election Vote Totals," accessed June 25, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Supreme Court Nominating Commission, "Filling a Supreme Court vacancy," Aug. 6, 2020
- ↑ This may include work as a lawyer, judge, or full-time teacher at an accredited law school.
- ↑ Our Kansas Courts, "Judicial Selection," accessed Sept. 24, 2021
- ↑ Kansas Judicial Branch, "Kansas Supreme Court," accessed June 21, 2021
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