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Kansas Supreme Court Justice vacancy (July 2025)
| Kansas Supreme Court |
|---|
 |
| Wilson vacancy |
| Date: July 4, 2025 |
| Status: Nominee pending |
| Nomination |
| Nominee: Larkin Walsh |
| Date: August 7, 2025 |
Governor Laura Kelly (D) appointed Larkin Walsh to the Kansas Supreme Court, replacing Justice Evelyn Z. Wilson, who retired on July 4, 2025. In her retirement announcement, Wilson cited her recent ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) diagnosis as her reason for stepping down.[1] Walsh was appointed on August 7, 2025, and is Governor Kelly's fourth nominee to the seven-member supreme court.[2] As of August 11, 2025, Walsh has not been sworn in.
In Kansas, state supreme court justices are selected through assisted appointment with a bar-controlled judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission with a majority of members selected by the state Bar Association. This is the only state using this selection method. To read more about the assisted appointment of judges, click here.
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.[3]
Ballotpedia has compiled the following resources on the process to fill the Kansas Supreme Court vacancy:
- An overview of the appointee.
- A list of finalists recommended to the governor.
- A list of candidates who applied to the vacancy.
- An overview of the selection process.
- An overview of the court following the vacancy.
- An overview of the justice who left office.
- A list of other state supreme court appointments in 2025.
The appointee
- See also: Larkin Walsh
On August 7, 2025, Governor Laura Kelly (D) appointed Larkin Walsh to the Kansas Supreme Court.[2]
Appointee candidates and nominations
Finalists
On June 10, 2025, the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission announced three finalists to fill the Kansas Supreme Court vacancy. The following finalists will be sent to Governor Kelly (D), who will make the final appointment:[4]
- Kansas 7th District Court Judge Amy Hanley
- Kansas 10th District Court Judge K. Christopher Jayaram
- Attorney Larkin E. Walsh[5]
Applicants
On May 12, 2025, the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission announced the fifteen who applied to fill the upcoming Kansas Supreme Court vacancy. The following candidates applied for the vacancy:[6]
- Attorney Meryl B. Carver-Allmond
- Kansas 7th District Court Judge Carl A. Folsom III
- Kansas 7th District Court Judge Amy Hanley
- Attorney Randall L. Hodgkinson
- Kansas 10th District Court Judge K. Christopher Jayaram
- Kansas 22nd District Court Judge Laura E. Johnson-McNish
- Attorney Brant M. Laue
- Kansas 29th District Court Judge Kathleen M. Lynch
- Attorney Brian L. Mizer
- Kansas 3rd District Court Judge Cheryl A. Rios
- Attorney Anthony F. Rupp
- Attorney Krystal L. Vokins
- Attorney Larkin E. Walsh
- Attorney Kristen D. Wheeler
- Kansas 10th District Court Judge Robert Wonnell[2]
The selection process
- See also: Judicial selection in Kansas
In Kansas, state supreme court justices are selected through assisted appointment with a bar-controlled judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission with a majority of members selected by the state Bar Association. This is the only state using this selection method. To read more about the assisted appointment of judges, click here.
Makeup of the court
- See also: Kansas Supreme Court
Justices
Following Wilson's retirement, the Kansas Supreme Court included the following members:
| ■ Keynen Wall | Appointed by Gov. Laura Kelly (D) in 2020, and retained in 2022 | |
| ■ Caleb Stegall | Appointed by Gov. Sam Brownback (R) in 2014, and retained since | |
| ■ Melissa Standridge | Appointed by Gov. Laura Kelly (D) in 2020, and retained in 2022 | |
| ■ Eric Rosen | Appointed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) in 2005, and retained since | |
| ■ Marla Luckert | Appointed by Gov. Bill Graves (R) in 2002, and retained since | |
| ■ Daniel Biles | Appointed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) in 2009, and retained since |
About the court
Founded in 1861, the Kansas Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort and has seven judgeships. The current chief of the court is Marla Luckert.[3]
As of December 2020, five judges on the court were appointed by a Democratic governor and two judges were appointed by a Republican governor.
The Kansas Supreme Court meets in the Kansas Judicial Center in Topeka, Kansas.[7]
In Kansas, state supreme court justices are selected through assisted appointment with a bar-controlled judicial nominating commission. Justices are appointed by the governor with the assistance of a commission with a majority of members selected by the state Bar Association. This is the only state using this selection method. To read more about the assisted appointment of judges, click here.
About Justice Wilson
- See also: Evelyn Z. Wilson
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.[8]
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.[9]
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.[9]
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.[9]
Other state supreme court appointments in 2025
- See also: State supreme court vacancies, 2025
The following table lists vacancies on state supreme courts that opened in 2025. Click the link under the Court column for a particular vacancy for more information on that vacancy.
Click here for vacancies that opened in 2024.
| 2025 State Supreme Court Vacancies |
|---|
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Supreme Court of Kansas, "Letter of resignation," March 24, 2025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Kansas - Office of the Governor, "Governor Kelly Appoints Attorney Larkin Walsh to Fill Vacancy on the Kansas Supreme Court," August 7, 2025 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "appt" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kansas Judicial Branch, "Kansas Supreme Court," accessed June 21, 2021 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "supreme" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Note: Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name.
- ↑ Kansas Judicial Branch, "Supreme Court Nominating Commission selects nominees to send to governor," June 10, 2025
- ↑ Note: Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name.
- ↑ Kansas Judicial Branch, "Visit the Judicial Center," accessed Sept. 25, 2021
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedWilson - ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Kansas City Courts, "Evelyn Z. Wilson," accessed June 24, 2021
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Federal courts:
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Kansas • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Kansas
State courts:
Kansas Supreme Court • Kansas Court of Appeals • Kansas District Courts • Kansas Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in Kansas • Kansas judicial elections • Judicial selection in Kansas
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