Sebelius makes another judiciary pick

Governor pegs retired professor for Supreme Court commission

? The commission that screens applications for the state’s appellate courts and chooses finalists for vacancies has a new member, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius announced Monday.

David N. Farnsworth, of Wichita, will serve a four-year term on the Supreme Court Nominating Commission. Farnsworth, 76, retired in 1996 after 40 years as a political science professor at Wichita State University, where he also served as an associate vice president and dean of liberal arts and sciences.

The commission was created by a 1958 amendment to the Kansas Constitution. It interviews candidates for openings on the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, then names three finalists. The governor makes the final choice.

“It is a fundamental part of maintaining a judicial system independent of partisan politics,” Sebelius said in a statement.

Supreme Court justices face an election every six years in which voters statewide decide whether to retain them on the bench. Court of Appeals judges face retention every four years. No justice or judge has ever failed to win retention with less than a two-thirds majority.

Sebelius on Friday appointed Shawnee County District Judge Eric Rosen to the seven-member Supreme Court.

Sebelius appoints four of the nominating commission’s nine members, and the other five are elected by attorneys, including the commission’s chairman.

Farnsworth replaces Dennis Greenhaw, of Independence, whose term expired June 30.