Evelyn Z. Wilson
Evelyn Z. Wilson was a judge of the Kansas Supreme Court. She assumed office on January 24, 2020. She left office on July 4, 2025.
Wilson ran for re-election for judge of the Kansas Supreme Court. She won in the retention election on November 8, 2022.
She was first appointed to the position by Gov. Laura Kelly (D) on December 16, 2019.[1] To learn more about this appointment, 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.[2] Wilson received a confidence score of Mild Democrat.[3] Click here to read more about this study.
Before her appointment to the state supreme court, Wilson was the chief judge for the Third Judicial District in Shawnee County, Kansas, from 2014 to 2019. She served on the Third Judicial District from 2004 to 2019.[4]
Biography
Wilson was born in Smith Center, Kansas, in 1959. She received a bachelor's degree in business a Bethany College in 1982 and a J.D. from Washburn University School of Law in 1985.[1]
Between 1985 and 1992, Wilson was an associate at Lund Law Firm and an Oberlin city counselor and prosecutor. She worked at Wright, Henson, Somers, Sebelius, Clark & Baker in several positions from 1992 to 2004, including as a managing partner. She also taught as an adjunct professor of law at Washburn University School of Law from 2001 to 2004.[5]
She was a judge on Third Judicial District Court in Shawnee County, Kansas, from 2004 to 2020. From 2014 to 2020, she served as the chief judge.[5]
As of June 2021, Wilson was a member of the Kansas Bar Foundation, Kansas District Judges Association, Kansas Women Attorneys Association, and Topeka Bar Association, according to the Kansas Judicial Branch.[5]
Elections
2022
See also: Kansas Supreme Court elections, 2022
Kansas Supreme Court, Evelyn Z. Wilson's seat
Evelyn Z. Wilson was retained to the Kansas Supreme Court on November 8, 2022 with 65.7% of the vote.
Retention Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✔ | Yes |
65.7
|
574,938 | ||
No |
34.3
|
299,941 | |||
Total Votes |
874,879 | ||||
|
|
2014
- See also: Kansas judicial elections, 2014
Wilson was retained to District 3 with 64.7 percent of the vote on November 4, 2014.[6]
2010
- See also: Kansas judicial elections, 2010
Wilson was retained to the district court with 66.4 percent of the vote.[7]
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Evelyn Z. Wilson did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Appointments
2020
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly (D) appointed Melissa Standridge to the Kansas Supreme Court on November 30, 2020. Standridge succeeded Justice Carol Beier, who retired on September 18, 2020. Standridge was Gov. Kelly's third nominee to the seven-member supreme court.
At the time of the appointment, the governor would select a supreme court justice from a list submitted by the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission.
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.[8]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[9]
- 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.
Evelyn
Wilson
Kansas
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Democrat - Judicial Selection Method:
Assisted appointment through Bar Association controlled judicial nominating commission - Key Factors:
- Donated less than $2,000 to Democratic candidates
- Appointed by a Democratic governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
Wilson donated $100 to Democratic candidates and organizations. She was appointed by Gov. Laura Kelly (D) in 2019.
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.[10] 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.[10]
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.[10]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must:[10]
- have at least 10 years of active and continuous law practice in the state;[11]
- 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.[12] 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.[13]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kansas, Office of the Governor, "Governor appoints Judge Evelyn Z. Wilson to fill vacancy on the Supreme Court of Kansas," December 16, 2019
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ www.cjonline.com, "Kansas Supreme Court names Wilson as Chief Judge of Third Judicial District" October 2, 2013
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Kansas City Courts, "Evelyn Z. Wilson," accessed June 24, 2021
- ↑ Kansas Secretary of State, "Candidates for the 2014 General (unofficial)," accessed June 10, 2014
- ↑ Kansas Secretary of State, "2010 General Election Official Vote Totals," accessed June 24, 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.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 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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