Everything you need to know about Aug. 4 Kansas Supreme Court amendment proposal
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- A yes vote would switch Kansas to direct elections for Supreme Court justices.
- If approved, the GOP-controlled Legislature will set election rules in 2027.
- Opponents warn elections could politicize the court and draw out-of-state money.
After years of mounting frustration over a Kansas Supreme Court that has protected abortion rights and forced the Legislature to spend more on public schools, Republican lawmakers are asking voters to approve an overhaul of the court.
The constitutional amendment proposal on the Aug. 4 ballot calls for Kansas to abolish its current system for filling Supreme Court seats, where a nominating commission screens candidates and the governor appoints justices, who face the voters every six years in retention elections.
If the ballot measure passes, Kansas will switch back to directly electing Supreme Court justices for the first time in nearly 70 years. Voters approved the current nominating commission system in 1958 after a high-profile political scandal.
Since then, no Supreme Court justice has ever been ousted in a retention election, leading some to question their effectiveness and others to say the current system produces quality justices who can afford to stay above partisan politics.
Here’s what to know about your vote, the impact the amendment could have on hot-button issues like abortion access, and the history of how justices have been selected in Kansas.
What does Kansas judicial amendment say?
“This amendment gives the voters the right to elect the justices of the Kansas Supreme Court. The justices shall serve terms of six years, with the elections of justice positions 1, 2 and 3 to occur in 2028, positions 4 and 5 to occur in 2030 and positions 6 and 7 to occur in 2032, and every six years thereafter. The rules applicable for such elections and the designation of position numbers shall be provided by law. Any vacancy on the court for an unexpired term shall be filled at an election as provided by law.”
What would a yes vote mean?
A “yes” vote on the judicial amendment would mean green-lighting the plan to switch back to directly electing all seven members of the Kansas Supreme Court.
If the ballot measure wins voter approval, it will be up to the GOP-controlled Legislature to hammer out key details in 2027 ahead of the first round of high court elections in 2028.
Lawmakers would decide whether to make elections partisan or nominally nonpartisan, and whether to elect all justices statewide or to split up the state into geographic districts, which would likely be drawn by lawmakers.
What would a no vote mean?
A “no” vote on the judicial amendment would mean preserving Kansas’ current Supreme Court selection system, where the governor appoints a justice from a short list of three candidates vetted by a commission made up of members who represent different parts of the state.
Practicing attorneys in each of Kansas’ four congressional districts elect a representative to serve on the nominating commission, and governors also appoint a member from each congressional district. Lawyers statewide choose the sole at-large member
Voters would continue reviewing justices every six years and deciding whether to let them retain their seats.
What’s the case for direct elections?
Proponents of switching to direct election say attorneys have too much say over who serves on the Supreme Court. Kansas is one of 21 states that uses some form of nominating commission and appointment process for filling Supreme Court vacancies, but no other state’s nominating commission is made up of a majority of lawyers by design.
Supporters have branded the ballot initiative the “right to vote amendment,” arguing that retention elections are an insufficient check on justices and that competitive elections would make justices more responsive to voters.
What’s the case against direct election?
Opponents of direct election say it could discourage some of the most qualified candidates from running, including serious legal minds that belong in the courtroom instead of on the campaign trail.
They warn that Kansas Supreme Court elections would likely play out like a series of recent high-stakes judicial elections around the country, where out-of-state megadonors have poured millions of dollars into divisive campaigns. An April 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election drew a record-breaking $100 million with the court’s swing vote on the line.
What could it mean for abortion?
Many opponents of the amendment also see it as a proxy fight over abortion access, which the Supreme Court voted to protect in 2019, and Kansas voters overwhelmingly reaffirmed at the ballot box in 2022.
The month after the Value Them Both amendment failed by 18 percentage points, Kris Kobach, then a candidate for attorney general, told supporters that he was urging lawmakers to propose a direct election amendment that would allow conservatives to “slowly and quietly” assemble an anti-abortion majority on the court.
The current balance of the court is six liberal justices appointed by Democratic governors and one conservative justice appointed by a Republican governor.
Why did Kansas stop electing justices?
For almost 100 years, Kansas directly elected its Supreme Court justices. But state law at the time allowed governors to appoint a candidate of their choice to the Supreme Court when a vacancy occurred in the middle of a judicial term.
In a notorious 1950s scandal that came to be known as the “Triple Play,” outgoing Gov. Fred Hall conspired with the court’s chief justice and his own lieutenant governor to have himself appointed to the Supreme Court after losing a re-election bid.
The scandal prompted voters to approve a constitutional amendment to ditch the overtly partisan direct election method in favor of a nominating commission system similar to the one first adopted by Missouri in 1940.
Who can vote and how?
Any U.S. citizen and Kansas resident who will be 18 by Aug. 4 can vote on the ballot issue, as long as they registered to vote by July 14 for the 2026 primary election.
You don’t have to be affiliated with any political party, and you don’t have to vote on all the issues or races on the ballot.
Ahead of the election, you can look up your information on the Kansas Secretary of State’s voter portal to make sure you’re registered to vote, see your sample ballot and get info about when and where to vote.
