Supreme Court Shakeup: 1 Justice Loses Seat, While Others Narrowly Save Their Spots

After an aggressive negative ad campaign, one of three Oklahoma Supreme Court Justices on Tuesday's ballot has been voted off the bench. Meanwhile, two others will keep their seats.

Gov. Kevin Stitt responded in a statement saying,

“This is a historic day. Voters made it clear they are tired of activist judges on our Supreme Court who don’t share our Oklahoma values. It’s time for fresh eyes on the Court.”

It was a close vote for three of the longest-serving Oklahoma Supreme Court Justices Tuesday night. Noma Gurich and James Edmonson will keep their seats, while Yvonne Kauger was voted off the bench.

“It’s very interesting, I think this is the first time in our state's history that justice has not been retained,” said House Speaker Charles McCall. “It's kind of intriguing to me that only one of the justices would be dismissed while most of the messaging that came out during the campaign all three of the justices were identified in the same messaging.”

In the weeks before the election, over $3 million was spent on ads and campaigns for and against the judges. The three justices on the ballot were appointed by Democratic governors.

At 87 years old, Kauger has served on the state’s highest court since 1984.

“For the longest time the judicial branch has been sort of that one branch of government that has been untouched by politics,” said Rep. Forrest Bennett (D-OKC).

Many Democratic lawmakers including Rep. Bennett say that politics don’t belong in the courtroom.

“Trying to paint these justices as somehow being pro-certain progressive policies or anti-certain conservative policies when the reality is they're just doing their job,” said Rep. Bennett.

Meanwhile, McCall says Tuesday's vote shows that Oklahomans are in tune with the fact that the judicial branch is the only sector that isn’t term-limited.

“The people voted in a term limit for the legislature in the early 90’s for 12 years total,” said McCall.

Measures to re-organize the judicial nominating committee or impose a mandatory judicial retirement age both failed during the 2024 legislative session. But McCall says in light of Tuesday’s vote, the issues are likely to spill over into the upcoming session.

"The legislature will have to look at those things next year because of what took place in this election,” said McCall.

With the open seat, the Stitt will now appoint a new justice. This will be his fourth appointee during his time as Governor.