New justice to join Kansas Supreme Court this week

? The Kansas Supreme Court is having a special session this week to swear Caleb Stegall in as its newest justice.

The ceremony is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday.

Stegall currently is a Kansas Court of Appeals judge. Gov. Sam Brownback elevated him to the state’s highest court in August.

It was Brownback’s first appointment to the seven-member Supreme Court.

Stegall will replace former Justice Nancy Moritz. She was appointed to the federal appeals court for Kansas and five other western and Plains states.

Stegall is 43 and was serving as Brownback’s chief counsel when the governor appointed him to the Court of Appeals last year. He served as Jefferson County’s elected prosecutor for two years before joining Brownback’s staff in January 2011.