Kansas lawmakers voted to change how Kansas appoints its Supreme Court nominations from a commission-led process to direct elections.
Currently, the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission provides the governor three potential judges, from which the governor selects. The commission is made up of one lawyer from each of Kansas’s congressional districts, one non-lawyer from each congressional district and one at-large lawyer to chair the commission.
Merit-based selection, also called the Missouri Plan, is used in 14 states, including all of Kansas’s neighboring states. Justices in 21 states are elected, but only seven of those use partisan elections.