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The Kansas district courts are the trial courts of Kansas. Created by the Kansas Constitution, the district courts have general original jurisdiction over all civil and criminal cases including:

Divorce and domestic relations;
Damage suits;
Probate and administration of estates, guardianships, conservatorships;
Care of the mentally ill;
Juvenile matters;
Small claims.

Kansas is divided into thirty-one judicial districts, with 163 district court judges. The number of judges varies from district-to-district. There is a district court in each county.^[1]

District 7

Kansas courts
State appellate courts
	Kansas Supreme Court; Kansas Court of Appeals
State trial courts
	Kansas District Courts
Federal courts
	Federal District Court; U.S. Tenth Circuit
Picking judges
	Judicial selection in Kansas; Supreme Court Commission
Judges in the news
Kansas on Judgepedia

Sebelius names Kittel new 7th Judicial District judge, Lawrence Journal-World, Mar 31,2008.
Did $750 to Sebelius help get Six the Seventh?, Kansas Meadowlark, Jan 4 2005.

District 10 (Johnson County) (Suburban Kansas City)

2008 Petition for Election of District Court Judges in Johnson County

The Kansas Judicial Review of Johnson County is supporting this ballot initiative.

In 2006, the Kansas Judicial Review of Johnson County organized a grassroots petition drive to put to the voters of Johnson County the question over whether Tenth District (Johnson County) Judges should be elected by the voters or maintain the current system of a nominating commission and subsequent "retention" elections. In the fall of 2006, we obtained the sufficient number of signatures required and these signatures were certified by the Secretary of State. In November 2008, the following question will be on the ballot in all of Johnson County: Shall the following be adopted? The present method of nonpartisan selection of judges of the district court in this judicial district by the governor upon nominations by a district commission and subject to retention in office by a vote of the voters shall be discontinued and there is hereby adopted in this judicial district the election of judges of the district court by the voters. YES or NO If the question is adopted, then Johnson County will move to a system of electing judges.

A group of liberal attorneys has formed a group, "Justice, Not Politics!" to oppose this initiative to keep the selection of judges controlled by the Johnson County Bar Association.

In Nov 2007 KU Law professor Stephen J. Ware presented an academic report about the flaws in the judicial process used in Kansas. From the introduction to this paper:

Kansas is the only state in the union that gives the members of its bar majority control over the selection of state supreme court justices. The bar consequently may have more control over the judiciary in Kansas than in any other state. This process for selecting justices to the Kansas Supreme Court is described by the organized bar as a 'merit', rather than political, process. Other observers, however, emphasize that the process has a political side as well. This paper surveys debate about possible reforms to the Kansas Supreme Court selection process. These reforms would reduce the amount of control exercised by the bar and establish a more public system of checks and balances.

While Prof. Ware's paper was about the appointment of Kansas Supreme Court judges, the same problems exist in the nomination of district court juges.