TOPEKA—A nominating commission charged with naming candidates to fill a district judge vacancy in the 3rd Judicial District has issued a request for assistance from the public.
The 3rd Judicial District is comprised of Shawnee County.
The six-member commission is responsible for submitting the names of two or three nominees to the Governor for the vacancy which will be created when Shawnee County District Judge Jan Leuenberger retires effective August 2. He has been a district judge since October 1995.
“The nominating commission is especially interested in receiving recommendations of suggested nominees to fill the vacancy from the general public. All of the citizens of the 3rd Judicial District are requested to consider this matter, and the names of suggested nominees submitted by the general public will be welcomed by the commission,” according to Supreme Court Justice Marla J. Luckert, chair of the 3rd Judicial District Nominating Commission.
Kansas statutes require that a judge be a resident of the district in which selected, be at least 30 years of age, have been in the active practice of law for at least five years, and have been admitted to the practice of law within the State of Kansas.
Applicants are requested to complete questionnaires for the position. The completed forms should be returned to Justice Luckert, Kansas Supreme Court, 301 SW 10th Ave., Room 315, Topeka, KS 66612 no later than noon, July 9, 2010. The forms are available in the office of the clerk of the district court in the Shawnee County Courthouse and are online at www.kscourts.org.
The nominating commission will convene at 9:00 a.m., July 19, in the Shawnee County Courthouse to interview the suggested nominees. The meeting will be open to the public; however, the commission has the authority to adjourn to executive session to discuss personal traits of the suggested nominees.
The law requires that the commission submit at least two names, but not more than three, to the Governor who may appoint any of the suggested nominees.
Notices of the vacancy have been mailed to every attorney in this judicial district by the commission chairperson.
The 3rd Judicial District Nominating Commission includes Justice Luckert as the nonvoting chair and Terry E. Beck, Mary M. Thomas, Mary D. Feighny, and C. Patrick Woods from Topeka; Lee R. Barnett, Wakarusa; and Toby L. McCullough, Rossville.