Kansas Supreme Court | |
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Location | Topeka, Kansas |
Composition method | Missouri plan with retention elections |
Authorized by | Kansas Constitution |
Decisions are appealed to | Supreme Court of the United States |
Judge term length | 6 years |
Number of positions | 7 |
Website | Official website |
Chief Justice | |
Currently | Lawton Nuss |
Since | August 1, 2010 |
Lead position ends | January 8, 2023 |
The Kansas Supreme Court is the most powerful court in the state of Kansas. It has seven justices. It is led by Chief Justice Lawton Nuss, the court supervises the legal profession, administers the judicial branch, and serves as the state court of last resort in the appeals process.[1]
After the Kansas–Nebraska Act passed in 1854, President Franklin Pierce chose Samuel Dexter LeCompte as the first chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Kansas Territory.[2]
In State v. Limon, the Kansas Supreme Court unanimously struck down part of a law that sentenced Matthew Limon to prison over a decade longer than a heterosexual would have received. This was because there were different age of consent laws for homosexuals.[3]
The court has ruled that the $2.7 billion in school funding was not good enough and was given out unfairly. It then suggested the Kansas legislature increase money for schools and change the way the money was given out.[4][5][6][7] Many Republicans saw this as judicial activism. Some Republicans called for changes in how justices are chosen.[8]
In Hermesmann v. Seyer, the Court said that a woman is can sue the father of her child for child support even if conception happened because of a criminal act (such as statutory rape) committed by the woman against the father. It also said that a mother being a possible criminal due to the criminal statutes had nothing to do with determining the father's child support amount.[9]