TOPEKA — Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Marla Luckert will step down from her position at the start of the new year and retire within weeks, she announced Friday.
Luckert, the second woman appointed to the state Supreme Court, suffered a stroke in October and temporarily withdrew from her public-facing duties. She said in a video address the decision to resign and retire was one of the hardest of her life.
“I am on a path to recovery,” she said in the video, “but I have had to face a difficult truth.”
She is unable to fully fulfill the demands of chief justice, she said. Luckert said she will resign from the office of chief justice Jan. 2 and retire weeks later, in late January or early February. As the most senior member on the court, Justice Eric Rosen, who has been serving as interim chief justice while Luckert was on medical leave, will step into the role Jan. 2.
Luckert’s retirement will give Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly a fifth installation on the court before her term is up at the end of 2026. Justices Dan Biles and Rosen will be required to retire in 2027 and 2028, respectively, per state law. Justice Evelyn Wilson retired in July, and her replacement, Justice Larkin Walsh, took the bench in November. Voters in August 2026 will decide if they want to change the way state Supreme Court justices are selected. They will have the choice of switching to a popular vote system or retaining the current nomination and gubernatorial appointment process.
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Luckert, 70, also announced her resignation from three national committees.
Before the Supreme Court, she was a district judge in Shawnee County, becoming the first woman in Kansas to be a chief district judge.
“I wanted small town Kansas children, including girls, to see themselves reflected in positions of leadership and to know their voices, their intelligence and their perseverance matter,” she said.
Luckert was born in Goodland, and she obtained undergraduate and law degrees at Washburn University in Topeka. She worked in private practice before Gov. Joan Finney appointed her to the district court.
Gov. Bill Graves appointed Luckert to the Supreme Court in 2003, where she has sat for 22 years. She became chief justice in 2019 following the retirement of former Chief Justice Lawton Nuss.
“Serving as chief justice has given me a front row seat to the courage and compassion that define our judicial system,” Luckert said. “I have watched judges make difficult decisions with integrity. Courts staff treat people with dignity during their most vulnerable moments, and employees adapt to change with grace and resolve.”
Rosen said in a news release Luckert’s time on the bench has been “fraught with challenge.” He lauded her efforts to build relationships in state government and overcome major obstacles. She made the court system “stronger, more resilient and better prepared for the future,” he said.
Luckert said Kansas’ three branches of government have come together during her tenure to create a “more accessible, more efficient and better equipped” judiciary that can “respond to complex issues such as mental illness and the needs of children in care.”
“That spirit of cooperation gives me great hope for the future,” Luckert said, “and confidence that the three branches can continue to build upon that foundation, and to continue to strengthen a dedicated court system designed to bring accessible justice to all.”
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
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