Topeka ? Caleb Stegall is now a justice of the Kansas Supreme Court after serving as a lower-court judge and as a top aide to Gov. Sam Brownback.

The Supreme Court had a special session Friday for Stegall’s swearing in. Brownback and dozens of other people attended the ceremony.

Brownback elevated the 43-year-old Stegall to state’s highest court in August after naming him to the Kansas Court of Appeals last year.

Previously, Stegall served as Brownback’s chief counsel. Before joining the administration in January 2011, Stegall was Jefferson County’s elected prosecutor for two years.

It is the Republican governor’s first appointment to the seven-member Supreme Court.

Stegall replaced former Justice Nancy Moritz. She left to for a seat on the federal appeals court for Kansas and five other western and Plains states.