Seated left to right: Hon. Marla J. Luckert, Hon. Lawton R. Nuss, Chief Justice; Hon. Carol A. Beier.
Standing left to right: Hon. Dan Biles, Hon. Eric S. Rosen, Hon. Lee A. Johnson, and Hon. Caleb Stegall. (Courtesy photo)
The Kansas Supreme Court will conduct a special evening session Sept. 24 at Manhattan High School in Manhattan as part of its ongoing outreach to familiarize Kansans with the high court, its work, and the overall role of the Kansas judiciary.
According to a press release from the Office of Judicial Administration, the court will be in session from 6:30 p.m. to about 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24, in the Manhattan High School Auditorium at 2100 Poyntz Avenue.
It will be the Supreme Court’s first visit to Manhattan in the court’s 157-year history, and it will be only the ninth time that the court will hear cases in the evening.
The public is invited to attend the special session to observe the court as it hears oral arguments in two cases to be announced about one month before the special session. After the hearing concludes, the justices will greet the public in an informal reception outside the high school auditorium.
“Community visits are a great way for the people of Kansas to get to know us—to see who we are, what we do, how we do it—and to learn about the judiciary’s role in our society,” said Chief Justice Lawton Nuss. “We encourage anyone who’s ever been curious about Supreme Court proceedings to come. We continue to provide live webcasts of all our courtroom sessions in the Kansas Judicial Center in Topeka, but people tell us there’s nothing like seeing proceedings in person.”
The Supreme Court has conducted several special sessions outside its Topeka courtroom since 2011, when it marked the state’s 150th anniversary by convening in the historic Supreme Court courtroom in the Kansas Statehouse. From there, and through the end of 2011, the court conducted special sessions in Salina, Greensburg, and Wichita. Since then, the court has had sessions in Garden City, Hays, Hiawatha, Hutchinson, Kansas City, Overland Park, Pittsburg, Topeka, Winfield, Emporia, and Colby.
The court started conducting evening sessions when it visited Hays in April 2015. That event at Fort Hays State University drew a crowd of nearly 700 people. Subsequent evening sessions have also drawn crowds numbering in the hundreds.
Details about the court’s visit to Manhattan are available by following a link on the court’s website at www.kscourts.org under What’s New. The site will be updated as new information becomes available.
