Tuesday Topics: Proposed Amendment to Abolish Merit-Based Judge Selection

Name: Tuesday Topics: Proposed Amendment to Abolish Merit-Based Judge Selection
Start: 2026-02-24T18:00:00-06:00
End: 2026-02-24T19:00:00-06:00
Location: 711 West 2nd St N, Wichita, KS 67203

Schedule

Tue Feb 24 2026 at 06:00 pm to 07:00 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

711 West 2nd St N, Wichita, KS 67203 | Wichita, KS

Gloria Farha Flenje Focht will present a talk about SCR 1611, a measure which will be on the ballot in August 2026 to change the selection of Kansas Supreme Court Judges to a direct election.
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).
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 mean that justices would be elected by popular vote for six-year terms through staggered elections beginning in 2028.
About the speaker:
Gloria Farha Flenje Focht is the immediate past chair of the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Committee, a past president for the Wichita Bar Association and a longtime community leader for the Wichita area.