Brennan Center for Justice: This Week in Fair Courts: KS and OK Judicial Selection News

"The Kansas House passed a bill to replace the state’s merit selection system for appellate judges with a system in which judges are appointed by the governor, subject to state Senate confirmation. The bill’s sponsors argue that the current system — in which a judicial nominating commission sends candidates to the governor — gives too much influence to attorneys. Chief Judge Richard Greene of the Kansas Court of Appeals advocated vocally against the change, and an editorial in the Wichita Eagle similarly worries that the switch will politicize the court. Meanwhile, the Tulsa World reports that a similar proposal to do away with Oklahoma’s merit selection system has advanced in the Oklahoma Senate Judiciary Committee. And, in response to proposals to modify Arizona’s judicial selection system currently before the state legislature, the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University has published a paper highlighting the benefits of merit selection."

The entire article, without commenting, is at http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/archives/this_week_in_fair_courts3/ 

Oklahoma bill SB621 was assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee for markup.