Kansas Supreme Court justice vacancy (December 2019)
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| Nuss Vacancy Kansas Supreme Court |
| Vacancy date |
| Vacancy status |
| Nomination date |
| March 11, 2020 |
| Table of contents |
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Appointee candidates Selection process About Chief Justice Nuss |
| See also |
| Recent news External links Footnotes |
Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss retired on December 17, 2019.[1] Gov. Laura Kelly (D) said of Nuss, "As a Marine, a lawyer, a jurist and a Kansan, Chief Justice Nuss has taken challenges head on and never shied from struggle or duty. He’s been in the arena, doing difficult work on behalf of Kansans. And he has done it well."[2]
Governor Laura Kelly (D) appointed Keynen Wall to succeed Nuss on March 11, 2020.[3] Wall was Gov. Kelly's second nominee to the seven-member supreme court. Under Kansas law, the governor selected supreme court justices from a list submitted by the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission.
The appointee
- See also: Keynen Wall
Kenyen J. "K.J." Wall was a partner at the Forbes Law Group when he was appointed to the Kansas Supreme Court. He previously worked as deputy general counsel for Chief Justice Lawton Nuss (2013-2015), as senior legal counsel at Federated Insurance (2008-2013), as an attorney in private practice (2004-2008) and as a law clerk to Judge John Lungstrum of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas (2002-2004).[4]
Wall obtained a bachelor's degree in communications from Kansas State University in 1993. At Kansas State, he was an All-American and national-champion debater. Wall received a master's degree in rhetoric at the University of Minnesota in 1996. He earned a J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law, graduating Order of the Coif in 2001.[3]
Wall's initial term expired on January 8, 2023. To remain on the bench, he needed to stand for retention by voters in 2022.
Appointee candidates and nominations
Nominations
The Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission submitted three nominees to Gov. Kelly:
- Judge Thomas E. Malone
- Attorney Steven J. Obermeier
- Attorney Keynen Wall[5]
Applicants
Five judges and 12 attorneys applied to fill Nuss' vacant seat. The applicants included:
- Judge Daniel Cahill
- Judge Michael P. Joyce
- Judge Thomas E. Malone
- Judge David Ricke
- Judge Evelyn Z. Wilson
- Attorney Kristafer R. Ailslieger
- Attorney Angela D. Coble
- Attorney Henry R. Cox
- Attorney Dennis D. Depew
- Attorney Randall L. Hodgkinson
- Attorney Russell J. Keller
- Attorney Michael C. Leitch
- Attorney Steven J. Obermeier
- Attorney Lyndon W. Vix
- Attorney Brenda S. Watkins
- Attorney Kristen D. Wheeler
- Attorney Marcia A. Wood[6]
The selection process
- See also: Assisted appointment
At the time of the vacancy, appointments to the seven-member Kansas Supreme Court were made by the governor, who would select a replacement from a list of three individuals submitted by the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission. Newly appointed justices would serve for at least one year, after which they were required to run for retention in the next general election. Subsequent terms would last for six years.[1]
The court's chief justice was chosen by seniority; they were the longest-serving justice on the court and served as chief indefinitely.[7] Justice Marla Luckert succeeded Nuss as chief justice of the court.
Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission
At the time of the vacancy, the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission was a nine-member independent body created by the Kansas Constitution to recommend individuals to the Kansas governor for appointment to the state supreme court.[8]
When a vacancy opened on the court, the commission reviewed applications and interviewed candidates in public hearings. The commission would then recommend three candidates to the governor.[8]
As of July 2019, the commission had nine members: four of the commission's members were required to be non-attorneys and were appointed by the governor, while the other four were attorneys selected by members of the bar in each of the state's four congressional districts. The chair of the commission, the ninth member, was a lawyer chosen in a statewide vote of lawyers who belong to the Kansas Bar Association.[8]
Media coverage
- John Hanna, The Associated Press (March 11, 2020): "[Wall] will join a seven-member court that for years has faced strong criticism from conservative Republican legislators over rulings on school funding, the death penalty and abortion. GOP leaders in the Republican-controlled Legislature are trying to put a proposed amendment to the state constitution on the ballot to overturn a ruling last year protecting abortion rights."[9]
About Chief Justice Nuss
- See also: Lawton Nuss
Nuss joined the Kansas Supreme Court as an associate justice in 2002 after being appointed by Gov. Bill Graves (R). At the time, he was the first court member in more than 20 years to move directly from private practice to the bench.[10] Nuss became chief justice in 2010, after then-Chief Justice Robert Davis retired from the court.[11]
Nuss received his B.A. in English and history from the University of Kansas in 1975. Nuss attended the University of Kansas on a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship. He served in the United States Marine Corps for four years after receiving his B.A. Nuss received his J.D. from the University of Kansas Law School in 1982.[10]
Before joining the state supreme court, Nuss was an attorney at the law firm of Clark Mize & Linville from 1982 to 2002.[10]
Political outlook
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Nuss received a campaign finance score of 1.06, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was more conservative than the average score of 0.12 that justices received in Kansas.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[12]
Other state supreme court appointments in 2019
- See also: State supreme court vacancies, 2019
The following table lists vacancies to state supreme courts that opened in 2019. Click the link under the Court column for a particular vacancy for more information on that vacancy.
Click here for vacancies that opened in 2020.
| 2019 judicial vacancies filled by appointment | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Court | Date of Vacancy | Justice | Reason | Date Vacancy Filled | Successor |
| Florida Supreme Court | January 7, 2019 | Fred Lewis | Retirement | January 9, 2019 | Barbara Lagoa |
| Florida Supreme Court | January 7, 2019 | Barbara Pariente | Retirement | January 14, 2019 | Robert J. Luck |
| Florida Supreme Court | January 7, 2019 | Peggy Quince | Retirement | January 22, 2019 | Carlos Muñiz |
| Kentucky Supreme Court | January 31, 2019 | Bill Cunningham | Retirement | March 27, 2019 | David Buckingham |
| Mississippi Supreme Court | January 31, 2019 | William Waller | Retirement | December 19, 2018 | Kenny Griffis |
| North Carolina Supreme Court | February 28, 2019 | Mark Martin | Private sector[13] | March 1, 2019 | Cheri Beasley |
| North Carolina Supreme Court | March 1, 2019 | Cheri Beasley | Apppointed to new post[14] | March 11, 2019 | Mark Davis |
| Arizona Supreme Court | March 1, 2019 | John Pelander | Retirement | April 26, 2019 | James Beene |
| Oklahoma Supreme Court | April 10, 2019 | Patrick Wyrick | Elevation to a federal judgeship[15] | November 20, 2019 | Dustin Rowe |
| Oklahoma Supreme Court | April 30, 2019 | John Reif | Retirement | September 17, 2019 | M. John Kane IV |
| Arizona Supreme Court | July 3, 2019 | Scott Bales | Private sector[16] | September 4, 2019 | Bill Montgomery |
| Texas Supreme Court | July 31, 2019 | Jeff Brown | Elevation to a federal judgeship[17] | August 26, 2019 | Jane Bland |
| New Hampshire Supreme Court | August 23, 2019 | Robert Lynn | Retirement | January 7, 2021 | Gordon MacDonald |
| Virginia Supreme Court | September 1, 2019 | Elizabeth McClanahan | Retirement | February 15, 2019 | Teresa M. Chafin |
| Vermont Supreme Court | September 1, 2019 | Marilyn Skoglund | Retirement | December 5, 2019 | William Cohen |
| Kansas Supreme Court | September 8, 2019 | Lee Johnson | Retirement | December 16, 2019 | Evelyn Z. Wilson |
| Delaware Supreme Court | October 30, 2019 | Leo E. Strine Jr. | Retirement | November 7, 2019 | Collins Seitz Jr. |
| Iowa Supreme Court | November 15, 2019 | Mark Cady | Death | January 28, 2020 | Dana Oxley |
| Florida Supreme Court | November 19, 2019 | Robert J. Luck | Elevation to a federal judgeship[18] | September 14, 2020 | Jamie Rutland Grosshans |
| Florida Supreme Court | November 20, 2019 | Barbara Lagoa | Elevation to a federal judgeship[19] | May 26, 2020 | John D. Couriel |
| Kansas Supreme Court | December 17, 2019 | Lawton Nuss | Retirement | March 11, 2020 | Keynen Wall |
| Maine Supreme Court | December 2019 | Jeffrey Hjelm | Retirement | January 6, 2020 | Catherine Connors |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hays Post, "Kansas Supreme Court chief justice to retire in December," July 26, 2019
- ↑ Leavenworth Times, "Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss to retire in December," July 26, 2019
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kansas, Office of the Governor, "Governor appoints Kenyen J. (K.J.) Wall to fill vacancy on the Kansas Supreme Court," March 11, 2020
- ↑ Forbes Law Group, "K.J. Wall, JD," accessed March 12, 2020
- ↑ WBIW.com, "KS Supreme Court nominees down to three," January 17, 2020
- ↑ Salina Post, "Salina lawyer among 17 candidates for Supreme Court vacancy," November 19, 2019
- ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Kansas," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Kansas Judicial Branch, "Nominating Commissions," accessed July 30, 2019
- ↑ The Associated Press, "Ex-staffer appointed as Kansas Supreme Court’s new justice," March 11, 2020
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Kansas Judicial Branch, "Honorable Lawton R. Nuss," accessed August 5, 2016
- ↑ KAKE.com, "Chief Justice Announces Retirement from Kansas Supreme Court," August 3, 2010
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ Martin left the court to become the dean of Regent University Law School in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
- ↑ Beasley was appointed chief justice of the court.
- ↑ Wyrick was confirmed to a seat on the Western District of Oklahoma on April 9, 2019.
- ↑ Bales left the court to become executive director of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver.
- ↑ Brown was confirmed to a seat on the Southern District of Texas on July 31, 2019.
- ↑ Luck was confirmed to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on November 19, 2019.
- ↑ Lagoa was confirmed to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on November 20, 2019.
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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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