Let’s Talk About the Judicial Selection Amendment

Many Kansas voters saw they will need to prepare to vote “no” again to protect their bodily autonomy and reproductive rights. However, there are also those who have little to no knowledge of what's at stake on their 2026 ballot, and we should all be prepared to begin those conversations about rewriting our constitution.

That’s why we want to provide some guidelines for you so you can talk to your friends and family about this proposed constitutional amendment.

Similarly to how the language of the anti-abortion amendment of 2022 had many voters confused on how to vote, the same can be said here. The language of the amendment to politicize the Kansas Supreme Court is vague, but one thing is for certain: this is an attempt at pushing extreme special interests into the judiciary. One key talking point to keep in mind as you begin conversing with folks about this amendment: Keep politics out of our Courts.

• Justices and judges must be free to rule based on the law. 
• The Supreme Court selection process should be outside the political arena. 
• We need a Court that can make decisions fairly, regardless of the politics, to uphold the Kansas Constitution and protect our Kansas freedoms. 
• Switching to partisan elections for state Supreme Court justices will not actually give power to the people; it will give power to those with the most money.
• When Ohio switched to partisan Supreme Court elections in 2022, hundreds of thousands of dollars from out-of-state special interest groups poured into Ohio to buy their preferred candidate’s success.
• We should keep special interest and dark money groups out of our judicial system. 
• This amendment will replace merit-based experts with extreme politicians and special interest groups.
• We should keep the courts non-partisan and ensure experts - not politicians - make these calls.

Kris Kobach and other fellow proponents of the amendment claim it would allow for more direct elections and therefore a more accountable democracy. But we know that the door this amendment opens in the Kansas Supreme Court is not for the average Kansas voter, but dark money interests and PAC funded campaigns. This amendment would put the seats on the Kansas Supreme Court up for sale to the highest bidder. Here are some other considerations to bring up in opposition to claims that direct elections for Supreme Court Justice seats would make justices more accountable.

• The judicial branch is different from the legislative and executive branches and must be free from political influence. 
• Political interference will create gridlock and harm the implementation of these critical, community programs.
• Justices must consider cases in the interest of all Kansans, not political agendas. 

Supporters of politicizing our courts will be busy funding attack ads on the current makeup of the Kansas Supreme Court. Keep in mind:

• The Nominating Commission is a non-partisan group of Kansans who are both lawyers and non-lawyers and represent a geographically diverse makeup of the state. These folks represent both rural and urban communities and they have one job – to select the top three most qualified applicants for a Supreme Court vacancy and send them to the governor for a final selection. 
• The current process has stood the test of time since 1958 and ensures we have qualified nominees for the Court. It came out of a huge corruption scandal when the governor, lieutenant governor, and former chief justice conspired to retain power at the end of our terms and was designed to prevent such corruption from happening again in Kansas.
• Popular elections and Senate confirmations inject politics into our Court system. The Nominating Commission has kept politics out. 

It is evident that the proposed amendment we’re seeing is retaliation from Kris Kobach on the Kansas Supreme Court for not executing his personal political agenda - which is seemingly to gut public school funding and revoke abortion rights. Here are some key points of consideration when engaging in conversations about the intent behind this amendment.

• Less than three years ago, Kansans voted to make their call to protect abortion rights clear. Now, the extremists backing this amendment are trying to remake the court so they can ignore the will of the people and ban abortion without exceptions in Kansas.
• We should protect the will of Kansas voters and the right of all Kansans to make personal decisions without government getting involved.
• The extremists backing this amendment are only trying to remake the court so they can ban abortion without exceptions in Kansas.
• Attorney General Kobach gave an entire speech arguing that the court’s decision to uphold abortion protections proves a change in the system is needed, making the intentions behind this amendment clear.
• Attorney General Kobach is only trying to overhaul the court because he does not like that they don’t bend to his will. Kobach has openly stated that the makeup of the court makes it “very difficult” for him to win cases and advance his preferred policies.

The amount of misinformation in the next 14 months will be considerable. It will be up to all of us to ensure that we talk to help keep each other informed about our responsibility to show up August 2026 to stop the politicization of the Kansas Supreme Court.