There is just one final step to take before Kansans are able to directly elect members of the Kansas Supreme Court after the Kansas House of Representatives on Wednesday, March 19, 2025 passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 1611.
SCR 1611 is an amendment to the Kansas Constitution which would overturn the current system and return the power to decide who sits on the Kansas Supreme Court to residents.
The resolution passed 84-40.
Kansas is the only state in the Union in which members of the state supreme court are nominated not by the governor but by a nominating commission controlled by the Kansas Bar Association (KBA).
The KBA-controlled commission then nominates three candidates from whom the governor then makes an appointment.
SCR 1611 will be put on the ballot in August 2026 for a vote of the people. If passed with a simple majority, elections for the Kansas Supreme Court would begin in 2028, and Kansas would join 22 other states that use direct elections for their state supreme courts. While several states use a nominating commission, only Kansas has a commission controlled by the state bar.
The amendment would empower voters to choose justices for six-year terms through staggered elections beginning in 2028
“As we’ve traveled across Kansas listening to our communities, Kansans have told us they want to know more about who serves on Kansas’ highest court — a Supreme Court chosen by them, not handed down by an outdated, insider commission,” a release from the Kansas House leadership said. “SCR 1611 delivers just that, ending Kansas’ days as the only state with this system. This is the people’s victory, and we’re proud to stand with them as they reclaim their voice at the ballot box.”
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach also emailed a statement in favor of the resolution.
“Today marks an historic turning point in Kansas,” Kobach said in the release. “Voters will now get to decide whether to reclaim the right to vote for justices, which they enjoyed from statehood until 1958.
“Polling shows that Kansans overwhelmingly prefer voting on Supreme Court Justices to the status quo. Seventy-four percent support the direct election of Supreme Court Justices, while only 20% like the current attorney-controlled system.”
The Kansas Senate passed the resolution earlier in March, 27-13.
Not the first time changes have been proposed
In July 2019, Lawton Nuss and Lee Johnson announced that they were stepping down before the mandated retirement age for justices of 75.
At the time, current Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson moved for a constitutional amendment that would have put Kansas on the “federal model” in which the governor makes selections with the advice and consent of the Kansas Senate. While his motion was made on the last day of the session, and the only vote was procedural, it did receive the 27 votes that would have been needed to put the matter on the ballot.
In 2013, lawmakers changed the appointment system for the Kansas Court of Appeals from a merit-based system to a federal model, allowing the Governor to nominate appellate court judges subject to Senate confirmation.
The Kansas chapter of the ACLU opposed SCR1611.
“SCR 1611 seeks to dismantle Kansas’ merit-based judicial selection system and replace it with partisan judicial elections,” the submitted testimony reads. “This would inject politics into our courts, undermine judicial independence, and erode public trust in the judiciary. The ACLU of Kansas opposes this proposal because it threatens the rule of law, weakens the separation of powers, and allows special interests and partisan agendas to influence our state’s highest court.”
