Kansas considers judicial "musical chairs" as study finds some courts understaffed

January 27, 2012

Kansas: The Kansas Supreme Court's Blue Ribbon Commission recently finalized a study of the state's court system. Among other things, they decided that the current law requiring each of Kansas' 105 counties to have its own judge should be repealed so that the Supreme Court is able to re-arrange the judges based on which districts need them most.

Last year, a weighted caseload study by the National Center for State Courts analyzed the number of judges needed in each of Kansas' judicial districts in order to maintain speedy justice. The 18th Judicial District in Sedgwick County was found to be eight judges short. Hon. James Fleetwood, Chief Judge of that district, explained, "I don’t think we’ve ever been staffed to the point that would be considered reasonable anywhere else. Fortunately, we have some judges who are very cooperative right now. I think we could certainly use some people right now."

On the other hand, some worry that moving judges out of rural counties and into counties with greater caseloads will slow down the judicial process in those less populated areas. Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, warned, "It seems like it makes sense, but it will depend to me on how people can access judges so that justice is speedy."

Whatever happens, all are agreed that such big changes will take time to implement. Other recommendations by the commission include:

• Increasing the number of magistrate judges and decreasing the number of district judges
• Requiring all magistrate judges to be lawyers
• Implementing mandatory, statewide electronic filing of court documents for better organization
• Encouraging the use of video and audio equipment in the courtroom when a court reporter is not available
• Increasing all docket fees; requiring higher fees for civil cases, which cost the court more