Kansas Voters Reject Measure to Elect Supreme Court Justices

Kansas voters on Tuesday soundly rejected a Republican-backed constitutional amendment that would have replaced the state’s merit-based judicial selection process with direct elections for Supreme Court justices. The Associated Press projected the amendment’s defeat, with early returns showing roughly 70% of voters casting ballots against the measure, according to NBC News.

A System in Place Since 1958

The amendment, referred to the August primary ballot by the GOP-controlled Legislature, would have abolished the nine-member Supreme Court Nominating Commission and allowed voters to elect justices directly. Under the current system, the commission—composed of five attorneys and four non-attorneys—screens applicants and sends three finalists to the governor, who appoints one. Justices then face retention elections after one year and every six years thereafter, as detailed by KSNW via Yahoo News.

Kansas has used some form of this merit-based selection process since 1958, when voters changed the system following the infamous “Triple Play” scandal involving Governor Fred Hall. The state is the only one in the country with a bar-controlled judicial selection commission, according to the Kansas Information Network.

A Proxy Battle Over Abortion

The vote was widely viewed as a proxy battle over abortion rights. The measure came after the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the state constitution protects the right to abortion—a decision that has angered conservatives and made Kansas a regional destination for abortion access. In 2022, Kansas voters rejected the “Value Them Both” amendment that would have removed those protections, as NBC News reported at the time.

Kansas Democratic Party Chair Jeanna Repass said the motivation behind the amendment was clear. “This is about abortion,” she told NBC News. “Plain and simple.”

Attorney General Kris Kobach, one of the amendment’s most outspoken supporters, had previously said that electing justices would allow, “slowly and quietly,” for anti-abortion justices to be placed on the court, as reported by ProLife Press.

Record Campaign Spending

The ballot measure campaign drew more than $12 million in spending on airwaves, according to the tracking firm AdImpact, with opponents outspending supporters by more than 2-to-1. The opposition campaign was funded heavily by Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and other national organizations, while supporters received their largest contribution—about $1.7 million—from a Nashville-based nonprofit supporting conservative causes, according to The Economic Times.

Opponents argued that direct elections would turn judges into politicians and allow wealthy donors to influence judicial races. “‘No’ stops judges from becoming politicians. ‘No’ prevents billionaires from buying seats on the court,” a narrator said in an ad from Kansas United for Impartial Courts, one of the leading opposition groups.

Supporters countered that voters deserve a direct voice in choosing the state’s highest judges. They argued the current system gives attorneys disproportionate influence and that Kansas is an outlier nationally—voters in 21 states directly elect supreme court justices, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

Reactions to the Outcome

Governor Laura Kelly, a Democrat who opposed the amendment, celebrated the result. “Tonight, Kansans prevented the Kansas Supreme Court from becoming another branch of government defined by how much money one side can raise or the political headwinds of the day,” Kelly said in a statement. “Our merit-based nomination process that includes both attorneys and non-attorneys, and representation from every corner of the state, stands.”

Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, also welcomed the decision. “We believed Kansans four years ago when they voted overwhelmingly to protect abortion rights in the state constitution,” she said, according to KCUR. “Perhaps now the legislature will believe them, too.”

Kobach, speaking in Wichita after the amendment failed, did not directly address the vote. “As you know, in our Kansas state courts, it has been an uphill battle on just about everything,” he told a crowd. “So it is not an easy job, but it is a battle that I love to fight.”

What’s Next

The defeat represents a significant setback for the Republican initiative and affirms the current judicial selection process, which has been in place for nearly seven decades. The outcome also effectively preserves the Kansas Supreme Court’s 2019 ruling protecting abortion rights under the state constitution, making it harder for conservatives to reshape the court’s ideological balance through electoral politics.

The vote comes amid growing national concern about the politicization of state supreme courts. In Wisconsin, recent state Supreme Court elections—nonpartisan in name only—have drawn tens of millions of dollars and attention from billionaire donors, with a 2025 race attracting more than $100 million in spending.

Whether Republicans will attempt another ballot measure in future election cycles remains an open question. For now, Kansas voters have made clear that their state’s unique merit-based system—and the judicial independence it was designed to protect—will remain intact.