Kansas Judicial Branch
TOPEKA—The 28th Judicial District Nominating Commission will meet at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 3, to interview nominees to fill two district judge posts and one district magistrate post.
The district magistrate judge post will be Saline County.
The new judge positions were certified by Administrative Order 2022-JA-020 after the Kansas Legislature passed and the governor signed 2022 House Substitute for Substitute for Senate Bill No. 267 to fund them.
The 28th Judicial District is composed of Saline and Ottawa counties.
Public interviews
Interviews are open to the public. They will take place at:
Saline County Courthouse
Room 107
300 W Ash.
Salina, KS
The interview schedule will be announced once it’s finalized.
The nominees for the district judge posts:
●Samantha Angell, Salina, chamber counsel, U.S. Federal Court
●Nathan Dickey, Abilene, assistant county attorney, Saline County
●Jeffery Ebel, Salina, county attorney, Saline County
●Patrick Hoffman, Salina, county counselor, Barton and Reno counties
●Brad Sutton, Assaria, assistant county attorney, Saline County
●Andrea Swisher, Lindsborg, private practice
●Amy Taylor-Norton, Salina, assistant attorney general
The nominees for district magistrate judge:
●Richard Buck, Salina, county attorney, Ottawa County
●Andrew Couch, Salina, attorney, Young Williams, P.C.
●Jeffery Ebel, Salina, county attorney, Saline County
●Claire Serrault-Wiseman, Salina, court services officer, 28th Judicial District
The nominating commission will convene by phone at 1:15 p.m. Monday, July 11, to review nominations.
The meeting is open to the public.
To listen, call 1-866-705-2554 and enter guest passcode 4581358.
ADA accommodation
Any person with a disability who requires accommodation to access the nominating commission meeting should notify the judicial branch ADA coordinator as early as possible:
ADA Coordinator
[email protected]
785-296-2256
TTY at 711
Eligibility requirements
Nominees for district magistrate judge must be:
●a resident of Saline County at the time of taking office and while holding office;
●a graduate of a high school, a secondary school, or the equivalent; and
●either a lawyer admitted to practice in Kansas or able to pass an examination to become certified within 18 months.
Nominees for district judge must be:
●at least 30 years old;
●a lawyer admitted to practice in Kansas and engaged in the practice of law for at least five years, whether as a lawyer, judge, or full-time teacher at an accredited law school; and
●a resident of the judicial district at the time of taking office and while holding office.
District judge nominees to the governor
The nominating commission will interview nominees for the district judge positions and then select from three to five people for each vacancy whose names will be submitted to the governor to fill the positions according to statutory qualification and residency requirements. The governor has 60 days after receiving the names to decide whom to appoint.
Term of office
After serving one year in office, a new judge must stand for a retention vote in the next general election to remain in the position. If retained, the incumbent will serve a four-year term.
Nominating commission
The 28th Judicial District Nominating Commission consists of Supreme Court Justice K.J. Wall as the nonvoting chair; David Stanley of Bennington; Jay Macy of Minneapolis; Lance Cochran, Robert German, Peter Johnston, Donald Merriman, and Christine Ritter of Salina; and Robert Martin of Solomon.