OPINION

BREAKING NEWS

Details: July 21 2026

GUEST COLUMN, Brittany Jones, President, Kansas Family Voice

July 13, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly appointed K. Christopher Jayaram as the next Kansas Supreme Court Justice. He will fill the vacancy created by Chief Judge Marla Luckert's retirement. Judge Jayaram is currently a Johnson County District judge who was appointed by Governor Kelly.

Brittany Jones, Esq., President, Kansas Family Voice provided the following statement:

Details: July 21 2026

LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Kansas attorneys

The undersigned Kansas attorneys, representing a range of legal practices including prosecution, criminal defense, family law, adoption, civil litigation, and other areas of law, announce their support for the proposed constitutional amendment regarding the selection of Kansas Supreme Court justices and encourage Kansans to vote YES on the Right to Vote Amendment.

As attorneys, we recognize that this amendment would require our profession to relinquish a privilege that attorneys have held for decades, the ability to vote for attorney members of the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission. While we respect the commission and the attorneys who have faithfully served on it, we believe the time has come to place all Kansans on equal footing in the process of selecting the state’s highest court.

Details: July 17 2026

MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron

Our culture celebrates freedom, perhaps more loudly than any generation before. Current slogans and ads promise liberation, yet more than ever many feel trapped - enslaved to desires, addictions, broken relationships, anxiety, and emptiness. With timeless clarity, the apostle Paul spoke to our situation in 1 Corinthians chapters 5 and 6.

The young church in Corinth existed in a prosperous, cosmopolitan, but morally chaotic city, famous for its temple to Aphrodite and an anything-goes reputation. Paul confronted head-on their problems, and ours, with the transforming power of the Good News in Jesus Christ. In chapter 5, he set forth that faith in Christ produces a new morality - not one that simply modifies behaviors, but one that offers a vital, life-changing presence. In chapter 6, he connected the Corinthians' new morality to Christian liberty, in both permissible and non-permissible areas.

Details: July 16 2026

GUEST COLUMN, Bob Lewis, 123rd District Representative

In August, the voters of Kansas will have an opportunity to take back the selection of Kansas Supreme Court justices from a small group of lawyers and political insiders. Proponents of giving this enormous power to this privileged few assert that it is merit-based and apolitical. However, examination of the recent work of the nominating commission that recently sent three names to the governor to replace a retiring justice proves otherwise: The current system for selecting state Supreme Court justices is highly politicized and does not pick the most qualified applicants.

First, let’s look at the heavy political involvement of the commission members. Eight of the nine have made political contributions to one or more political candidates. Of those political contributions, 15 were to Democratic candidates and two to Republicans. One member was formerly the long- serving mayor of Kansas City and another the former communications director of the Kansas Democratic Party. It’s hard to argue that the committee was not steeped in Kansas politics, overwhelmingly Democratic.

Details: July 16 2026

GUEST COLUMN, Travis Couture-Lovelady, President of Kansas State Rifle Association

In 2010, Kansans amended the state Bill of Rights to guarantee that every person has the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home, and state. The measure passed with 89 percent of the vote, more than 710,000 Kansans, the largest margin any gun rights amendment has ever received in any state. The Kansas State Rifle Association helped push that amendment from the Legislature to the ballot, and Kansans made their position unmistakable with their vote.

Words in a constitution, however, mean only what the courts say they mean. In Kansas, the final word on Section 4 belongs to the seven justices of the Kansas Supreme Court. And under the current system, gun owners have no meaningful say in who those justices are.