Two former governors explain why electing justices is a bad idea

By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief

By Kathleen Sebelius and Bill Graves

Americans’ trust in the judiciary and the justice system is eroding at every level. From the U.S. Supreme Court to state courts across the country, polls show sharply declining public confidence in courts as trustworthy institutions.

The response from many special interest groups and politicians has been to try to politicize these institutions further, and the next front is state supreme courts, starting here in Kansas.

Across the country, there is a growing effort to turn judgeships into elected positions, allowing billionaire political donors to flood judicial races with money and to treat the bench as just another prize to be won in our increasingly polarized society.

We believe this is the wrong solution. And we say this as two former governors of Kansas from different political parties, where the state has used a better model — the gold standard for others to follow — to select the judges who sit on our state’s highest bench.

Measles cases this year have surpassed all of 2025 to become the worst since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, with cases now in 44 states and the District of Columbia, according to a federal report released Friday.

There were 2,318 confirmed cases as of July 23, compared with 2,289 in all of 2025, with 93% of cases for both years being among unvaccinated people, mostly younger than 20.

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