Kansas Legal Overview The highest court in Kansas is the Kansas Supreme Court, comprised of a Chief Justice and six associate justices appointed by the Governor and subsequently elected for a six year term. The Kansas Court of Appeals likewise has one Chief Judge and six other judges appointed by the Governor and subsequently elected for four-year terms. The District Court, with 31 judicial districts, is the main trial court with general jurisdiction. District Court appeals are heard by the Court of Appeals or directly by the Supreme Court. Municipal courts have limited jurisdiction over traffic and other city ordinance violations.
Top metro Kansas areas for Legal Issues: Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City
1. Capital punishment is legal in Kansas, although the state's death penalty statute was found unconstitutional by the Kansas Supreme Court in 2004. The U.S. Supreme then overturned the verdict in Kansas v. Marsh (2006) and reinstated the state's death penalty law as consistent with the U.S. Constitution. The most famous case in the state's history is Brown v. Board of Education (1954), wherein the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a unanimous 9-0 verdict against state sponsored "separate but equal" segregation of public schools. This ruling triggered desegregation all over the U.S. and was the basis of the Civil Rights Movement. 2. The family of an 87-year-old in Kansas claim that she was sexually assaulted and is pressing charges against the offenders. 3. A lawsuit has been filed in a northern Kansas hospital in order to stop a proposed sale.
Trending Kansas Legal Topics: The Kansas Bar Association (KBA) was established in 1882 as a voluntary organization. It now has nearly 7,000 members, including a majority of the state's 8,129 lawyers licensed to practice law in Kansas. Bar admissions are administered and processed by the Kansas Board of Law Examiners. Citizen complaints regarding judicial misconduct are investigated by the Commission on Judicial Qualifications, and the commission may also initiate investigations on its own or upon recommendation by the Disciplinary Administrator's Office. |