Amy Fellows Cline is asking Johnson County voters to keep her on the Kansas Court of Appeals in the Nov. 3 general election. The nonpartisan retention ballot will ask voters whether Cline should remain in Position 3 on the 14-judge appellate court.
Cline said she seeks retention because she enjoys helping people resolve legal disputes. The court handles about 1,500 cases a year, she said in a questionnaire, and she tries to write opinions "in a plainspoken and straightforward way" so the parties themselves can understand the outcome.
Candidate information
- Office sought: Kansas Court of Appeals Judge, Position 3 (retention)
- Party: Nonpartisan (appellate judicial elections are nonpartisan under Kansas law)
- Residence: Wichita, Kansas
- Education: University of Kansas School of Law, J.D. (2000); Wichita State University, B.A. magna cum laude in political science (1997)
- 2022 retention result: Retained with 68.8% of the vote (580,472 yes, 262,901 no)
Experience and public service
Gov. Laura Kelly appointed Cline to the Court of Appeals on July 15, 2020, to fill a vacancy left by Judge G. Joseph Pierron Jr.'s retirement. The Kansas Senate confirmed her on Jan. 21, 2021, and she was sworn in on Feb. 26, 2021. Her current term runs through January 2027.
Before joining the bench, Cline practiced law for about two decades. She worked at Fleeson, Gooing, Coulson & Kitch in Wichita from 2000 to 2004, then at Triplett Woolf Garretson in Wichita from 2004 to 2021. She represented clients in state and federal courts and before agencies including the Kansas Corporation Commission and the Kansas Human Rights Commission.
Cline served as president of Kansas Legal Services in 2014–2015 and president of the Kansas Bar Foundation in 2018. She also sat on the University of Kansas School of Law Board of Governors from 2018 to 2021. Her honors include the Kansas Bar Foundation's Robert K. Weary Award (2020) and the Kansas Bar Association's Outstanding Service Award (2026).
On the issues
Why she is running: Cline said she enjoys helping people and wants to make the law more understandable. She said she also works to issue opinions quickly so parties' disputes are resolved as fast as possible and writes in straightforward language so parties without a lawyer can follow the analysis.
Qualifications she cites: Cline said her years representing clients across Kansas in several areas of law mirror the variety of cases the Court of Appeals handles. She said she carries out her duties "faithfully and impartially."
How voters should evaluate retention: Cline pointed voters to the court's own website, kscourts.gov, where appellate opinions are posted each Friday and most oral arguments are livestreamed and archived. She encouraged voters to read opinions and watch arguments to judge whether judges follow the law and treat attorneys and parties respectfully.
When the law seems unfair: Cline said cases where citizens do not understand or know the law can be difficult because the outcome can seem unfair. "Sometimes, we have to apply the law regardless of whether the people involved knew they were violating it," she said. She said she spends time speaking to schools and community groups to increase civics education.
The general election is Nov. 3.
