Kansas judge rebuts state attorneys’ conflict of interest suggestion in anti-abortion law case

Johnson County District Court Judge Christopher Jayaram listens to closing arguments on Oct. 17, 2025, in a courtroom in Olathe, Kansas, as proceedings in a consequential abortion trial challenging state restrictions came to a close. (Photo by Anna Kaminski/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — A Kansas judge declined to pause his decision-making in a consequential abortion law case after state attorneys said his application to fill a vacancy on the Kansas Supreme Court causes a conflict of interest.

Johnson County District Court Judge K. Christopher Jayaram said Monday in a memo the state’s request appeared “pretextual and without any apparent legal or factual basis.”

Jayaram applied last month to fill a Kansas Supreme Court vacancy created when former Chief Justice Marla Luckert retired in March. The state’s attorneys on Thursday asked Jayaram to stay the case until a new Kansas Supreme Court justice is selected, which they said would “strengthen public confidence in the proceedings by avoiding any appearance of a conflict of interest.”

“This is true because Governor Kelly, who will ultimately make the appointment to the Supreme Court seat, is intricately involved in the subject matter of this case,” state attorneys said.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, has authority over state officials who oversee the underlying anti-abortion laws being challenged in the case, and she recently vetoed two bills that could affect those laws, the state’s attorneys pointed out.

Jayaram denied any conflict of interest.

“This jurist is ethically required under the Canons of Judicial Ethics to preside over and efficiently adjudicate matters assigned to him, and this case is no exception, particularly at this juncture in these proceedings,” Jayaram wrote. “There is no legitimate basis for either a stay or any other related relief, despite the State Defendants’ innuendo regarding some purported conflict that simply does not exist.”

Jayaram was selected as a finalist for a Kansas Supreme Court vacancy last year when he was interviewed for a vacancy left behind by the retirement of recently deceased Justice Evelyn Wilson. At that point, he was still presiding over the anti-abortion case, and he did not pause proceedings then.

The case involves an abortion provider and Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which sued state and county officials over the Women’s Right to Know Act, a series of state-imposed restrictions on abortion providers. Their challenge was heard over  a two-week bench trial in September and October, and a decision from Jayaram has been pending since. State attorneys said in their Thursday filing they intend to file a motion to dismiss the case by May 15.

Jayaram is among four judges and three attorneys who will be publicly interviewed by the nine-member Supreme Court Nominating Commission before three finalists are recommended to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who selects an appointee to a vacancy.

It could be the last appointment of Kelly’s gubernatorial tenure. She will leave office in January, and her decision could arrive just weeks ahead of a statewide vote in the Aug. 4 primary election on a ballot question that will ask voters to eradicate the current merit-based selection process for choosing Kansas Supreme Court justices and replace it with a campaign-based, popular vote process.