By Lacey Storer
Contributing Writer
When Melissa Taylor Standridge was sworn in Monday as the newest Kansas Supreme Court justice, she became just the sixth woman to ever serve on the court. And she is believed to be the first Jewish woman to hold that distinction.
Standridge, who lives in Leawood and is a member of Congregation Beth Torah, joins Justice Eric Rosen from Topeka as the second Jewish justice currently serving on the court.
“I’m humbled and honor the governor placed her confidence in me,” Standridge said after she had been sworn in via video.
“To serve on our state’s highest court is the honor of a lifetime – but I don’t view joining the Supreme Court as just a capstone to my career. The justices of our Supreme Court have difficult jobs. I am keenly aware that my appointment is more than just moving my office from the second floor of the judicial center to the third floor.
“I believe that my years as a judge on the court of appeals, my extensive experience working with judges and lawyers from across our state, and my broad life experiences outside the law have prepared me for this challenge.”
Gov. Laura Kelly announced Standridge’s appointment to the court earlier this month. Standridge fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Carol Beier.
“As governor, the process of appointing justices to the Kansas Supreme Court is one I take very seriously,” Kelly said. “Not only must justices have knowledge of the law, but also a complex and nuanced understanding of the world and the people the law is intended to govern.”
Kansas nominates Supreme Court justices through a merit-based process. Standridge was one of nine people interviewed by the Supreme Court Nominating Commission, which then submitted a panel of three nominees to the governor. The governor had 60 days to interview the nominees and make the appointment.
To be eligible, a nominee must be at least 30 years old, admitted to practice in Kansas, engaged in the practice of law for at least 10 years, whether as a lawyer, judge, or full-time teacher at an accredited law school. Candidates must fill out a lengthy application, and the three finalists undergo an extensive background check by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
This panel of nominees was historic in that, for the first time, all three nominees for the Kansas Supreme Court were women.
Standridge said her competition for the position was fierce, adding that the other nominees, Judge Kim Cudney of Washington and Kristin Wheeler of Wichita, are “exceedingly well-qualified for this position.”
“There’s no question that Melissa has gathered a wealth of legal expertise that makes her more than prepared to join the Supreme Court,” Kelly said. “But there’s more to her unique career trajectory and life experience that makes her a perfect fit for our state’s highest court.
“As a foster and adoptive parent, she has firsthand experience navigating the system both as a judge, and as a foster parent to numerous youngsters, doing her best to provide security, stability and love to kids who sorely needed it. The totality of her life and career experience makes her preeminently qualified to sit on the Kansas Supreme Court.”
Standridge has worked with the foster system for more than 20 years, first as a lawyer and then as a foster parent. She estimates she has fostered 10 children over the years, and she adopted three of them as a single mother. Later, when she had married, the birth mother of one of her children had another child and she and her husband, retired Missouri Associate Circuit Judge Richard Standridge, adopted the baby together. (The couple also has two children from his first marriage.)
“My personal life experiences have allowed me to immerse myself in a broad spectrum of the community,” she said in an interview with The Chronicle.
Having that kind of perspective has been influential to her career, as has her Judaism.
“The Jewish religion is an ethical religion and pursuing justice is a core principle that runs through Jewish history and Jewish tradition,” she said. “As a Court of Appeals judge, I remained steadfast to my commitment to that principal, and as a Supreme Court judge I will remain steadfast to that principle.”
Standridge is an active member of Congregation Beth Torah and says her synagogue and the people there are very influential in her life. Rabbi Mark Levin, who she’s known since she was a teenager, was one of her references for the Supreme Court appointment. And Rabbi Javier Cattapan was one of the first people to call and congratulate her after her appointment was announced.
Standridge has also served as vice chair of the JCRB|AJC board and on the board of the Shalom Geriatric Center (now Village Shalom).
Before her Supreme Court appointment, Standridge had been a judge on the Kansas Court of Appeals since 2008, where she has heard thousands of cases and authored nearly 1,000 opinions.
She served as chambers counsel to U.S. District Magistrate Judge David Waxse from 1999 to 2008. Prior to that, Standridge worked as an associate attorney at the law firm of Shook, Hardy, and Bacon, where she was a founding member of the firm’s diversity and inclusion initiative.
Standridge received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Kansas in 1984, going on to pursue her law degree at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. During her tenure at UMKC, she served as the editor-in-chief of the Law Review and the student leader of the Moot Court program, graduating in 1993.
Standridge has received numerous awards for her performance, including the Outstanding Service Award from the Kansas Bar Association, the Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Professional Service from the American Inns of Court, and in 2006 she was selected as Kansas City Leader of the Year by “The Daily Record.” Additionally, in 2007, her work enriching the lives of children earned her the Angel in Adoption award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
