The Kansas House of Representatives has ensured voters will vote on a constitutional amendment that would restore popular election of justices to the state Supreme Court.
The House passed the resolution March 19 putting the issue on the August 2026 ballot with an 84-40 vote. The state Senate earlier passed the resolution with a 27-13 vote.
If voters approve the amendment, they would be electing justices to six-year terms starting in 2028.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has been a proponent of the effort.
“Today marks an historic turning point in Kansas," Kobach told Legal Newsline. "From statehood until 1958, nearly a century, Kansas elected its justices. In 1958, in the wake of a scandal, whereby a retiring governor effectively put himself on the Supreme Court, Kansas took the Missouri model and made it more extreme by giving lawyers the majority on the selection commission.
“The result over time has been a very activist court. Popular elections restore accountability and place a check on justices who stray too far from the text of the constitution or the text of statutes.
“I am confident that the people of Kansas will vote to restore popular elections for justices when it is on the ballot in 2026.”
Kobach said polling supports the switch.
"Polling shows that Kansans overwhelmingly prefer voting on Supreme Court justices to the status quo," he said. "Seventy-four percent support the direct election of Supreme Court Justices, while only 20 percent like the current attorney-controlled system.”
Kansas has used a merit-based selection process since 1958. A nine-person nominating commission reviews candidates and chooses three finalists whose names are submitted to the governor. The court selection process currently is nonpartisan.
A new justice then faces a statewide retention vote after a year on the bench, and then faces another vote every six years. Five of the court’s seven current justices were appointed by Democrats, including current Gov. Laura Kelly.
If the amendment is approved by voters, justices could campaign and be active in political parties.
But the Legislature would, upon passage, decide if justices would be elected statewide or by districts and if the races would be partisan or not.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins (R-Wichita) said Kansas voters want the change.
“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,” he said in a statement on behalf of House leadership. “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 isn’t the only state looking at changes to how its Supreme Court justices are elected. Lawmakers in West Virginia and Montana are considering legislation that would make their current nonpartisan judicial elections partisan. Legislatures in both states are led by Republicans. West Virginia voted to switch from partisan to nonpartisan judicial elections just 10 years ago, also when the GOP had a majority in both of its houses.
Currently, only seven states have partisan elections for Supreme Court justices.