Former Kansas Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Wilson has died after battling ALS; she resigned in July 2025 and leaves behind a long record as an advocate-turned-judge and a vacant seat on the state’s highest court.
Evelyn Wilson passed away Saturday after a struggle with ALS, the degenerative neurological disease also called Lou Gehrig’s disease. She stepped down from the Kansas Supreme Court in July 2025 following that diagnosis, ending a tenure that began in 2020. Her departure left a vacancy that remains politically charged.
Wilson’s legal career stretched back decades, including 15 years on the Shawnee County District Court bench, the last five of which she served as chief judge. Before becoming a judge she practiced law in Topeka and northwest Kansas. She graduated from Bethany College in Lindsborg and earned her law degree at Washburn University in Topeka.
Gov. Laura Kelly appointed Wilson to the Kansas Supreme Court in 2019, and she took her seat in 2020. Chief Justice Eric Rosen issued a statement Saturday on behalf of the court, framing her career around service and advocacy. Rosen highlighted the human focus she brought to the bench even as she handled complex legal questions.
“Justice Wilson was a deeply principled woman whose enduring faith and commitment to the law were evident in her work as an attorney, judge, and justice.”
That instinct to defend people who needed help followed Wilson from the courtroom where she advocated into the courtroom where she presided. Rosen remembered her as someone for whom fairness and clarity mattered in every written opinion and every oral explanation. Those qualities built respect for her regardless of how one might have judged her rulings.
“She was drawn to the law as a champion for people who needed help advocating for their rights, a trait that carried over to her tenure as a judge.”
Across the bench and among colleagues, Wilson was known for treating people with dignity and for making legal reasoning accessible. Rosen underscored that she wanted anyone before her to feel heard, even when the law required an unfavorable outcome. That approach reinforces public trust in the judiciary when it’s applied consistently.
“It was important to her that a person in her courtroom feel respected and heard, even when the law required her to rule against them.”
Rosen also noted that Wilson faced ALS “with optimism and great courage,” a personal testament to her character during the illness. ALS is brutal in how it robs physical ability while often leaving the mind intact, making the disease particularly cruel for people whose work depends on precision. Her decision to remain on the bench as long as she could reflects that resolve.
Her seat has been vacant since July 2025, and how it gets filled matters. Kansas uses a nominating commission process for Supreme Court vacancies, a system many conservatives view as concentrating power in a legal establishment instead of leaving more control with elected officials. The timing and mechanics of filling the vacancy will carry political implications for the state judiciary.
For those who watched Wilson’s career, the story is one of steady public service: decades in private practice, a long stretch on the district court, and a final chapter on the state’s highest bench. Her work was consistently described as clear, well-reasoned, and fair by colleagues who served with her. Her death closes a career that many say was defined by law as vocation and by a concern for the people who came before her court.
