By Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — A state judicial nominating commission unanimously recommended Tuesday that Gov. Laura Kelly choose from among two eastern Kansas district court judges and a soft-spoken attorney in private practice to fill an impending vacancy on the Kansas Supreme Court.
The nonpartisan commission completed two days of interviews with 15 applicants before several rounds of voting narrowed the list to Douglas County District Court Judge Amy Hanley, Johnson County District Court Judge Christopher Jayaram and Leawood attorney Larkin Walsh. It would be the Democratic governor’s fourth appointment to state’s seven-justice Supreme Court.
Justice Evelyn Wilson, who was diagnosed with the progressive neurodegenerative condition known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, plans to retire July 4. She was appointed by Kelly in 2019, but took the oath in 2020.
“We had very good candidates, and that’s important,” said Gloria Flentje, chairperson of the merit-selection commission. “I hope that every time in the future it will be a hard decision because there are good candidates who want to be on the Kansas Supreme Court.”
Hanley, who was appointed to the district court in 2016 by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, was among top vote-getters in each of the rounds conducted by the commission. Before joining the bench, she argued 20 times before the state Supreme Court or Kansas Court of Appeals. She was a special assistant U.S. attorney in Kansas and an assistant attorney general for Kansas. She earned a law degree at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
“I believe litigation experience is crucial to this position,” said Hanley, of Lawrence. “I believe strongly in precedent.”
She said one of the biggest challenges before the state Supreme Court was to respond to the tarnished public image of courts and judges in general.
“Public perception is something I believe is best addressed through education,” she said.
Walsh, senior counsel at Stueve Siegel Hanson and a 2004 graduate of the University of Kansas law school, clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Carlos Murguia and was a research attorney for state Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier. Walsh’s legal practice centered on civil cases in state and federal courts. More recently, she worked on plaintiffs’ rights in labor and employment cases.
Retired Kansas Court of Appeals Judge Steve Leben described Walsh in a reference letter as someone with “intellectual humility.”
“I found that to be so moving,” Walsh said. “It really brings a tear to my eye that someone would describe me that way. I am not a self-promoter. This is not my scene, but I do think a critical attribute of being a judge is to maintain that sense that you don’t have all the answers.”
The Leawood resident said the obligation of a state justice would be to maintain fidelity to the law, conduct careful reviews of facts and examine issues in the way parties framed them.
“Ego doesn’t play a huge role in that,” said Walsh, who suggested the same skill was important in forming consensus among justices. “Being the loudest or being the most inflexible or being the most aggressive is never the most effective.”
Jayaram, who was appointed a district court judge in Johnson County by Kelly in 2021, said his 20-year legal career before that point focused on business litigation and health care matters. He was an attorney at Horn Aylward & Bandy and earned a law degree at Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
He said the text of the Kansas Constitution ought to be reviewed from a pragmatic standpoint without losing connection to actual words contained in the document.
“I don’t think that you should overlook original words that are there,” said Jayaram, of Lenexa.
He was questioned by the commission about how judges or justices ought to handle personal political views when deciding cases.
“My job as a district court judge is really to not pay attention to what’s popular and not popular,” Jayaram said. “I’m not a political animal.”
The issue holds relevance given some district court judges in Kansas — not Johnson County — were elected by popular vote rather than appointed by a governor. In addition, the August 2026 ballot in Kansas will include a proposed amendment to the constitution requiring election of Supreme Court justices.
On the commission’s fifth ballot, Jayaram edged out on a vote of 5-4 Robert Wonnell, who also served as a judge in the Johnson County District Court. The commission conducted the one-on-one runoff to determine the third finalist after Jayaram and Wonnell tied on the fourth ballot.
This story has been updated to reflect the correct the spelling of Robert Wonnell’s last name.
