TOPEKA—The names of three nominees to fill the vacancy on the state Supreme Court being created by the retirement of Justice Tyler C. Lockett have been submitted to the governor for appointment. Justice Lockett retires at the end of his current term on January 13, 2003.
Nominated are Court of Appeals Judge Robert L. Gernon, 59; Kansas City attorney M. Warren McCamish, 55; and Riley County District Judge David L. Stutzman, 51. Governor Bill Graves will have 60 days in which to make an appointment to the Court. The three were nominated by the Supreme Court Nominating Commission, a nine-member panel consisting of a lawyer and non-lawyer from each of the four congressional districts plus an attorney chairman selected in an at-large election by registered members of the state bar.
Judge Gernon has been a member of the Court of Appeals since 1988. Before that, he served as a judge of the 22nd Judicial District beginning in 1979, including two terms as the district's administrative judge from 1981 until his appointment to the Court of Appeals. Gernon engaged in the private practice of law from 1970 to 1979 and also served as Brown County Attorney and County Counselor from 1971 to 1975.
Judge Gernon graduated from the University of Virginia Law School's Graduate Program for Judges in 2001 with a LL.M., Masters in the Judicial Process. He graduated from the University of Kansas with a BS degree in Business Administration and received his law degree from the Washburn University School of Law in 1969.
McCamish has been practicing law in Kansas City for 30 years, including 26 years as a member of the law firm of Williamson & Cubbison. In addition to his private practice, McCamish has been inducted as a Fellow in the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers and since 1998 has served as a member of the Kansas Board for Discipline of Attorneys. He also has served in the part-time position of Judge of the Municipal Court of Edwardsville since 1975.
He is a 1973 graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law and a 1968 KU graduate with a BS in Business Administration.
Judge Stutzman has been a district court judge since January 24, 1997, when he left the Manhattan law firm of Arthur, Green, Arthur and Condeman following nearly 15 years with that law office. Recently, the judge presided over the case of Kansas State University v. Morris Communications (WIBW) on broadcasting rights to KSU football. The judge entered an order in favor of WIBW's right to continue its solo broadcasts; however, within a week of the judgment, KSU and WIBW announced a complete settlement of all issues in the case, including abandonment of an appeal.
Judge Stutzman obtained a BS degree with merit from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, and went on to serve in the Navy as the Repair Division Officer and Damage Control Assistant on the guided missile frigate USS Brooke. Following his discharge from the Navy, Judge Stutzman completed his law degree at the University of Kansas and was graduated fourth in his class in 1982.