Kansans for Life on Friday renewed its opposition to Appeals Court Judge Melissa Standridge’s candidacy for the Kansas Supreme Court.
Standridge is one of 11 candidates who on Monday will interview for a seat on the Supreme Court that came open with Justice Carol Beier’s retirement.
KFL opposes Standridge’s candidacy because she sided with an appeals court ruling that found the right to an abortion was enshrined in the state constitution.
“Kansans deserve an unbiased and objective Supreme Court which will fairly interpret the law as it is written, without imposing political views,” KFL said in a statement in advance of Monday’s meeting of the Supreme Court Nominating Commission.
“Unfortunately, Melissa Standridge has a track record of supporting extremist abortion policies. Her selection by the nominating commission would clearly show their pro-abortion bias,” the group said.
Last year, Standridge sought a seat on the state Supreme Court when Lee Johnson retired.
She came up just one vote short of making the list of three candidates sent to the governor to choose from in making her appointment to the court.
This would be Gov. Laura Kelly’s third appointment to the Kansas Supreme Court.
A review of the nominating commission’s balloting shows that Standridge was a favorite of at least three of the nine members of the panel in 2019.
Three members of the commission – Terry Campbell, Gerald O. Schultz and Gloria Farha Flentje – voted for Standridge in each round of voting.
A fourth commission member – Frances Gorman Graves – voted for Standridge in three out of five rounds of voting.
The situation will be a little different this time, however, with new members on the Supreme Court Nominating Commission and a new pool of candidates.
Kelly appointed former Unified Government Mayor Carol Marinovich in June to the commission.
Marinovich replaced Bob Hayworth, whose term expired after he was appointed by former Gov. Sam Brownback.
And lawyers from the 3rd Congressional District also elected Katie McClaflin to the panel.
She is one of the five lawyers who are designated to sit on the commission.
She replaced Lenin Guerra, who was elected to the seat in 2016.
“Judge Standridge is extreme and out-of-step with Kansas values,” KFL’s government affairs director Jeanne Gawdun said in a statement.
“By putting her on a panel for submission to the Governor, the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission would confirm its incredibly political and biased nature, which they attempt to hide by cloaking themselves with terms like ‘merit-selection’ and ‘non-partisan,’” Gawdun stated.
Standridge has been on the Kansas Court of Appeals since 2008.
She previously served as counsel for Magistrate Judge David Waxse in the U.S. District Court of Kansas.
She also worked for Shook, Hardy & Bacon and two years as chambers counsel for Judge Elmo Hunter with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
She earned a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Kansas and a law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
