Topeka ? Gov. Sam Brownback says he’s working on filling a vacancy on the Kansas Court of Appeals created when one of its judges was appointed to the state Supreme Court.

Brownback says he expects to name a nominee well before the early February deadline set by state law.

A seat is open on the 14-member Court of Appeals because Brownback named Caleb Stegall to the Kansas Supreme Court. Stegall was sworn in Friday.

The conservative Republican governor will be making his fourth appointment to the Court of Appeals.

Under a 2013 law, the governor appoints the appeals judges, subject to Senate confirmation. Stegall was Brownback’s chief counsel before being named to the Court of Appeals last year.