Kansas Senate unanimously confirms first Hispanic judge to the state Court of Appeals

The Kansas Senate unanimously voted Thursday to confirm Judge Rachel Pickering as the first Hispanic person to sit on the state court of appeals.

The GOP-dominated chamber advanced Pickering to the bench despite frustrations with Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s approach to the confirmation process.

Pickering, who is Mexican-American, has been a judge in the Shawnee County District Court in Topeka since Kelly appointed her to the position in 2019.

Prior to joining the bench, Pickering was an assistant solicitor general in the Kansas Attorney General’s office under former Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican. Pickering also worked as public defender in Shawnee County, an assistant district attorney in Shawnee County and an appellate defender across the state.

She earned her law degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2003.

“She is already serving the State of Kansas as a judge and has been serving the state for nearly two decades,” said Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican. “I stand in support of her without reservation.”

Sen. Ethan Corson, a Fairway Democrat, called Pickering’s experience “second to none.”

Though the Senate Judiciary Committee ultimately advanced Pickering’s confirmation to the full floor on a unanimous vote, her confirmation faced hiccups earlier in the week over a 2008 case that was overturned in the court of appeals.

The Court of Appeals overturned a conviction in 2012, ruling that Pickering had been ineffective counsel for her client. The Kansas Supreme Court later overturned the appeals court’s decision.

Though the Legislature ultimately determined Pickering was well-qualified for the court, Republican leaders expressed frustration that Kelly’s office did not disclose information about the case to the committee, instead acknowledging it when Sen. Kellie Warren, a Johnson County Republican who chairs the Judiciary Committee, discovered it on her own.

“The Senate did its job in this instance and was forthcoming and transparent and gave a very qualified candidate the opportunity to explain herself in committee,” Warren said.

“There was a breakdown in procedure, it was not from the side of the Senate.”