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Johnson County Bar Association releases evaluations for judges on Nov. 8 ballot

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Ahead of the Nov. 8 general election, the Johnson County Bar Association has released the results of its election year evaluations of district court and state-level judges who are on the ballot for retention.

What it means: The results represent what percentage of local attorneys who have appeared in court before each judge either support or disapprove of their retention on the bench.

  • The results also include results on each individual judge and how satisfied JCBA members are with aspects of the judges’ performance — including knowledge of the law, impartiality and judicial temperament.
  • The Johnson County Bar Association is comprised of roughly 1,400 practicing attorneys and judges from the county and surrounding area.
  • All evaluations are anonymous, and attorneys can only evaluate judges within whose courts they have actually appeared.

Key quote: “Now because judges are appointed through the nonpartisan merit selection process, rather than partisan elections, they cannot participate in any political campaigns, which means there could be very limited information to help you evaluate the judges,” said Tracey DeMarea, executive director of the Johnson County Bar Association. “However, the attorneys who appear in front of these judges are in the very best possible position to help voters make informed decisions about each judge’s legal qualifications and competencies.”

What voters will be asked: In addition to higher profile contests, including those for governor, U.S. House and the Johnson County commission, Johnson County voters on the Nov. 8 ballot will also be asked to vote “Yes” or “No” on whether these judges should be retained.

  • The judges on this November’s ballot include some currently sitting on the 10th District Court in Johnson County, along with some justices on the Kansas Court of Appeals and the Kansas Supreme Court.
  • In total, 27 judges will appear on the November ballot for Johnson County voters.

Further context: The retention election for six justices on the state Supreme Court took on added weight after Kansans voted in August against a constitutional amendment that would have repealed the guarantee of statewide abortion access, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

  • Abortion rights won’t be on the ballot this directly again in November, but determining which justices continue to sit on the Kansas Supreme Court could impact whether the court will continue to rule in favor of statewide abortion access as it did in 2019 with its current composition.
Johnson County judges are up for retention election.
Fourteen judges who serve in the 10th District Court in Johnson County will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot. File photo.

JCBA’s 2022 Judicial Evaluation results

Here are the results of the Johnson County Bar Association’s judicial evaluation surveys, including the total number of responses from local attorneys each judge or justice received.

First, results for judges in the 10th District Court in Johnson County:

2022 Judicial Evaluation results

Next, evaluations for judges on the Kansas Court of Appeals:

2022 evaluation results
And those for the justices on the Kansas Supreme Court:

2022 Judicial Evaluation results

 

About the author

Lucie Krisman
Lucie Krisman

Hi! I’m Lucie Krisman, and I cover local business for the Johnson County Post.

I’m a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, but have been living in Kansas since I moved here to attend KU, where I earned my degree in journalism. Prior to joining the Post, I did work for The Pitch, the Eudora Times, the North Dakota Newspaper Association and KTUL in Tulsa.

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