TOPEKA—The Supreme Court Nominating Commission today submitted the names of three persons to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for appointment to the Court of Appeals to fill a vacancy created by the May 3rd death of Judge Robert J. Lewis Jr.
Nominees include Nancy S. Anstaett and Michael B. Buser, both of Overland Park; and Nancy L. Caplinger, Topeka. The governor has 60 days in which to make the appointment.
Anstaett has been in the private practice of law in the firm of Rowe & Anstaett since 1997. Prior to that she was with the firm of McAnany, Van Cleave & Phillips, P.A., with offices in Lenexa, Prairie Village, and Kansas City, KS.
She is a 1980 graduate of the Washburn University School of Law, where she received her JD degree magna cum laude. She completed her undergraduate degree at Kansas State University in 1977, also magna cum laude.
Buser has been with the firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. since December 1991. Before that he served as general attorney with the Union Pacific Railroad Co., beginning in July 1988. Following his graduate from law school in 1977, Buser served as assistant district attorney in Johnson County, including as senior assistant district attorney and administrative assistant to the district attorney until he joined the railroad in 1988.
He received his law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law, where he served as a member and Managing Editor of the Kansas Law Review. He is a 1974 graduate of Georgetown University, where he was awarded the Brennan Medal as the graduating senior who demonstrated the highest proficiency in theology.
Caplinger is Appellate Coordinator in the U.S. Attorney's Office, a position she has held since 1999. Before that, she was an assistant U.S. Attorney since 1995. She began her legal career upon her graduation from the Washburn Law School in 1985 by serving as Research Attorney to Supreme Court Justice Harold S. Herd and later as Law Clerk to U.S. District Judge Patrick Kelly, Wichita.
Upon leaving Judge Kelly's staff in 1989, she became an associate attorney in the Overland Park firm of Spencer, Fane, Britt & Browne, where she maintained a private practice until her appointment to the U.S. Attorney's office.