Topeka ? U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Deanell Reece Tacha said Friday that she accepted the Kansan of the Year honor on behalf of all Kansans who have worked to make the state what it is.

“It’s a great legacy that we have inherited,” Tacha said in an interview prior to a dinner put on by the Native Sons and Daughters.

The organization, which seeks to preserve Kansas history, named Tacha, of Lawrence, its annual Kansan of the Year recipient and FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair, an Independence native, as its Distinguished Kansan of the Year.

Bair’s flight from Washington, D.C., was delayed Friday, and she wasn’t available for an interview before the dinner at Maner Conference Center.

As Kansas celebrated its 150th anniversary of statehood, Tacha reflected on the state’s history of political battles.

“The struggle to define freedom” replays over and over, she said. “This quest of what is freedom in a civilized society inevitably will go on for generations.”

Tacha was appointed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan.

Just this week, she assumed senior judge status, which allows her to take a reduced workload and opens up a position on the Denver-based court for President Barack Obama to make an appointment.

Traditionally, the appointment would go to a Kansan.

“It’s very fair to say that Kansas would be entitled to this position,” Tacha said. “I would be terribly disappointed” if that didn’t happen, she said.

Tacha taught at the Kansas University School of Law, starting in 1974, and was vice chancellor of academic affairs when she joined the court.

Tacha also is considering a job as dean of the Pepperdine University law school. If she takes that job, she will retire from the bench.

Bair was named one of Time magazine’s most influential women in 2009. She oversees the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which is charged with maintaining the stability of the nation’s banking system.