Why I’m voting to retain supreme court justices

Judges sometimes make decisions that they personally don't want to make because they have taken an oath to support both the U.S. and Kansas constitutions

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Columnists

October 31, 2022 - 3:25 PM

Seated from left, Justice Eric Rosen, Chief Justice Marla Luckert, Justice Dan Biles. Standing from left, Justice K.J. Wall, Justice Caleb Stegall, Justice Evelyn Wilson, Justice Melissa Taylor Standridge.

This fall I will mark my ballot to retain all six Kansas Supreme Court justices.  Yes, I know that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. So, as judges often demand, here’s the evidence supporting mine.  

I served on the Supreme Court from 2002 through 2019, the last 10 years as chief justice. During that time, my fellow justices included Marla Luckert (since 2003), Dan Biles (since 2009), and Caleb Stegall (since 2014). I witnessed firsthand how hard these justices worked to reach the right answers, regardless of how much time that demanded. I also saw firsthand their willingness to make tough decisions that they knew would be unpopular with the public — and sometimes different from the results they personally wanted.  That is because they concluded those results were required by the particular case’s facts and the law. This process is often called “the rule of law.”  

As the renowned conservative, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, declared: 

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