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Kansas Supreme Court justice vacancy (September 2019)
 |
|---|
| Johnson Vacancy Kansas Supreme Court |
| Vacancy date |
| Vacancy status |
| Nomination date |
| December 16, 2019 |
| Table of contents |
|
Appointee candidates Selection process About Justice Johnson |
| See also |
| Recent news External links Footnotes |
Kansas Supreme Court Justice Lee Johnson retired on September 8, 2019. Governor Laura Kelly (D) said of Johnson, "Justice Lee Johnson has been a dedicated and distinguished public servant, first in Sumner County and then for 18 years on the bench in Kansas."[1]
On December 16, 2019, Gov. Kelly appointed Judge Evelyn Z. Wilson to succeed Johnson on the state supreme court. Wilson was Kelly's first nominee to the seven-member supreme court.[2]
Under Kansas law, the governor selected a supreme court justice from a list submitted by the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission. The justice served for at least one year, after which he or she would run for retention in the next general election to stay on the bench.
The appointee
- See also: Evelyn Z. Wilson
At the time of her supreme court appointment, Wilson was the chief judge for the Third Judicial District in Shawnee County, Kansas. She first joined the district court in 2004.[2]
Before serving on the Third Judicial District Court, Wilson was an attorney in private practice.
Wilson received her undergraduate degrees in business and economics from Bethany College in 1982, and her J.D. from Washburn University of Topeka in 1985.[2]
The selection process
- See also: Assisted appointment
At the time of the vacancy, the governor selected a replacement for the seven-member Kansas Supreme Court from a list of three individuals submitted by the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission. Newly appointed justices served for at least one year, after which they would run for retention in the next general election. Subsequent terms lasted for six years.[1]
Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission
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.[3]
When a vacancy opened on the court, the commission reviewed applications and interviews candidates in public hearings. The commission then recommended three candidates to the governor.[3]
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.[3]
Appointee candidates and nominations
Nominations
The Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission recommended three nominees to fill the vacancy following Johnson's retirement. The nominees were:
- Shawnee County Judge Evelyn Z. Wilson
- Attorney Dennis Depew
- Attorney Steven Obermeier[4]
Applicants
Twenty individuals—six judges and 14 attorneys—applied to succeed Johnson.[5] Click here to access a list of the 20 applicants.
About Justice Johnson
- See also: Lee Johnson (Kansas judge)
Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D) appointed Johnson to the state supreme court in January 2007 following the retirement of Justice Donald Allegrucci.[6][7]
Johnson received his B.S. in business administration from the University of Kansas 1969 and his J.D. from Washburn University School of Law in 1980.[8] He served in the United States Army Corps of Engineers for two years before law school.
Before his appointment to the state supreme court, Johnson served as a judge on the Kansas Court of Appeals from 2001 to 2007. He was the city attorney in Caldwell, Kansas, from 1987 to 1997 and an attorney in private practice from 1980 to 2001. He served as mayor of Caldwell from 1975 to 1976.[8]
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.
Johnson received a campaign finance score of -0.24, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal 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.[9]
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[10] | March 1, 2019 | Cheri Beasley |
| North Carolina Supreme Court | March 1, 2019 | Cheri Beasley | Apppointed to new post[11] | 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[12] | 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[13] | September 4, 2019 | Bill Montgomery |
| Texas Supreme Court | July 31, 2019 | Jeff Brown | Elevation to a federal judgeship[14] | 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[15] | September 14, 2020 | Jamie Rutland Grosshans |
| Florida Supreme Court | November 20, 2019 | Barbara Lagoa | Elevation to a federal judgeship[16] | 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 The Topeka Capital-Journal, "Justice Lee Johnson to retire from Kansas Supreme Court in September," July 10, 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Kansas, Office of the Governor, "Governor appoints Judge Evelyn Z. Wilson to fill vacancy on the Supreme Court of Kansas," December 16, 2019
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Kansas Judicial Branch, "Nominating Commissions," accessed July 30, 2019
- ↑ The Topeka Capital-Journal, "Panel nominates two attorneys, one judge for Kansas Supreme Court vacancy," October 18, 2019
- ↑ Kansas Courts, "Twenty apply for Supreme Court vacancy," September 3, 2019
- ↑ WIBW, "Justice Lee A. Johnson Sworn In as State's Newest Supreme Court Justice," accessed February 6, 2019
- ↑ Legal News Line "Sibelius chooses "nonpartisan" GOP judge for SC vacancy," January 8, 2007
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Kansas Judicial Branch, "Honorable Lee A. Johnson," accessed August 5, 2016
- ↑ 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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