Kansas voters reject amendment to elect state Supreme Court justices
The 61%-39% defeat preserves Kansas’ lawyer-majority nominating commission and a court whose abortion precedents have repeatedly frustrated pro-life advocates.
A Kansas constitutional amendment was defeated Aug. 4 that would have replaced the state’s judicial nominating commission with direct elections for Kansas Supreme Court justices.
Unofficial returns showed the amendment failing by approximately 61% to 39%, Reuters reported. The defeat preserves a selection system that has produced court decisions recognizing and expanding a state constitutional “right” to abortion.
Under the current system, five attorneys elected by Kansas attorneys and four nonattorneys appointed by the governor form a nine-member commission. The commission submits three candidates to the governor, who chooses one. Justices later face retention elections, although no Kansas Supreme Court justice has ever lost one.
The rejected amendment would have abolished the commission and placed the court’s seven seats on staggered six-year election cycles beginning in 2028. The Legislature would have determined whether the elections were partisan or nonpartisan and whether justices ran statewide or by district, according to the official ballot explanation.
Supporters hoped direct elections would allow Kansans to elect at least four conservative, anti-abortion justices by 2033.
The pro-life stakes arose largely from the court’s 2019 decision to defend a so-called “right” to abortion. The ruling subjected pro-life laws to the most demanding level of judicial review.
In 2022, voters rejected the Value Them Both amendment, which would have clarified that the state constitution creates no right to abortion and restored lawmakers’ authority to pass legislation to protect the unborn.
As Zeale News previously reported, Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas called the current selection method “deeply flawed.”
“I will be voting to restore to Kansans the ability to choose the justices who serve on the Kansas Supreme Court,” he said.
The stakes became still more immediate on the eve of the vote. Johnson County District Judge Christopher Jayaram issued a ruling blocking several pro-life abortion regulations, including informed-consent and waiting-period provisions, shortly before he was sworn in as the Supreme Court’s newest justice.
Kansans for Life responded in an election-day message: “The current system is controlled by abortion zealots. For the sake of countless lives, there is still time to make a difference.” The organization described a “yes” vote as the pro-life position.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes CEO Emily Wales treated the outcome as another victory for abortion supporters. “We believed Kansans four years ago when they voted overwhelmingly to protect abortion rights in the state constitution,” Wales said after the result.
