TOPEKA—A reception honoring Chief Justice Kay McFarland for her 30 years as a member of the Kansas Supreme Court, including 12 years as chief justice, is scheduled for Monday, September 17th, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the atrium of the Kansas Judicial Center, 301 W. 10th.
Speakers include Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Linda Parks, president of the Kansas Bar Association; and Gerald L. Goodell, a longtime Topeka attorney.
The chief justice's tenure on the court began somewhat in a whirlwind on September 19, 1977. She learned of her appointment to the Court only the night before, a Sunday. Following the public announcement by the governor the next day, she was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice on Monday, September 19, 1977. Following Bennett's announcement and a brief swearing-in, she began hearing oral arguments at 9:30 a.m. the same morning.
Before her appointment to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice McFarland served as a Shawnee County District Court judge, first as judge of the probate and juvenile courts in 1971, and then as district judge in 1973 until her appointment to the Supreme Court.
As the first woman district judge in state history, Chief Justice McFarland has done much to break the glass ceiling for women in the law. Having defeated the incumbent judge of the probate/juvenile court, she became the first woman to be elected to a Shawnee County judgeship.
In January 1973, she became judge of the newly created fifth division of Shawnee County District Court, thus becoming the first woman district judge in the history of Kansas. She also became the first woman to be appointed as a justice of the Kansas Supreme Court and the first woman to become Chief Justice.
During her tenure as Chief Justice, she has led the Kansas courts from a budget crisis that resulted in an emergency surcharge on case filings to the restoration of an austere but adequate budget in which formerly routine hiring freezes and other adverse personnel actions are no longer required. The budget turnaround culminated with 2006 legislative appropriations that that enabled Chief Justice McFarland to rescind the surcharge.
Meanwhile, she has continued to manage an increasingly complex Supreme Court caseload in which numerous high profile issues have arisen, including among numerous others school finance, a new death penalty law, funeral picketing, and Indian gaming and state-operated casinos.