photo by: Contributed

Judge Krishnan Christopher Jayaram

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Monday appointed District Judge Krishnan Christopher Jayaram to serve as a justice on the seven-member Kansas Supreme Court.

Jayaram, of Lenexa, was among three finalists to fill the open seat created by Justice Marla Luckert’s retirement on March 28. The other two finalists were District Judge Carl Folsom III, of Lawrence, and District Judge Robert James Wonnell, of Olathe.

Jayaram has been a district judge in Johnson County District Court since 2021. He previously was a lawyer with the Horn Aylward & Bandy and Smith Free Heald & Chock law firms. He graduated from the University of Kansas and the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College.

Jayaram was also a finalist for a Supreme Court seat last year after the late Evelyn Wilson stepped down. Kelly chose attorney Larkin Walsh to replace Wilson.

The Supreme Court Nominating Commission gave the three names to Kelly after conducting public interviews with seven candidates in the spring. The commission is composed of a chairman, four attorneys from each Kansas congressional district and four nonlawyers from each district.

The selection process is a merit-based one that Kansans voted to add to the Kansas Constitution in 1958. Kansans will soon decide whether the state Constitution should be amended so that justices would be elected rather than appointed by the governor.

This is Kelly’s fifth appointment to the high court. Her other appointees were Wilson in 2019, Melissa Standridge in 2020, Keynen “K.J.” Wall in 2020 and Walsh in 2025.