TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss plans to retire in December, giving Democratic Governor Laura Kelly a second appointment on the court. Nuss announced today (FRI) that he plans to step down December 17 after serving on the court since 2002 and as chief justice since 2010. He was an appointee of moderate Republican Governor Bill Graves. During the 66-year-old Nuss's tenure as chief justice, the seven-member court came under increasing criticism from conservative Republicans for rulings that overturned death sentences in capital murder cases and directed legislators to increase spending on public schools. And the state's highest court ruled in April that the Kansas constitution protects abortion rights. Nuss's announcement comes the same month Justice Lee Johnson announced his own plans to retire September 8. Johnson was appointed by Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius. Justice Marla Luckert is the presumptive next chief justice. Another Graves appointee, Luckert joined the court in 2003, which would put her next in line for the job in terms of seniority on the bench.
Read more about this story from the Kansas News Service.
Listen to an interview KPR's J. Schafer conducted with Chief Justice Lawton Nusss in March, 2019: SCOKAN Comes to Lawrence; Chief Justice Lawton Nuss Speaks to KPR
