TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court will conduct a special evening session October 3 at Emporia State University in Emporia as part of its ongoing outreach to familiarize Kansans with the high court, its work, and the overall role of the Kansas judiciary.
The court will be in session from 6:30 p.m. to about 8 p.m. Tuesday, October 3, in Webb Hall, located on the second floor of the ESU Memorial Union at 1331 Market St. Parking is available in lots accessed off Market Street and East 14th Avenue.
It will be the Supreme Court’s first visit to Emporia in the court’s 156-year history, and it will be only the seventh time that the court will hear cases in the evening.
The public is invited to attend the special session to observe the court as it hears oral arguments in two cases to be announced soon. After the hearing concludes, the justices will greet the public in an informal reception in the Webb Lobby on the east side of Webb Hall.
“Community visits are a great way for the people of Kansas to get to know us — to see who we are, what we do, how we do it — and to learn about the judiciary’s role in our society,” said Chief Justice Lawton Nuss. “We encourage anyone who’s ever been curious about Supreme Court proceedings to come. We continue to provide live webcasts of all our courtroom sessions in the Kansas Judicial Center in Topeka, but people tell us there’s nothing like seeing proceedings in person.”
The Supreme Court has conducted several special sessions outside its Topeka courtroom since 2011, when it marked the state sesquicentennial by convening in the historic Supreme Court courtroom in the Kansas Statehouse. From there, and through the end of 2011, the court conducted special sessions in Salina, Greensburg, and Wichita.
Since then, the court has had sessions in Garden City, Hays, Hiawatha, Hutchinson, Kansas City, Overland Park, Pittsburg, Topeka, and Winfield.
The court started conducting evening sessions when it visited Hays in April 2015. That event at Fort Hays State University drew a crowd of nearly 700 people. Subsequent evening sessions have also drawn crowds numbering in the hundreds.