By TIM CARPENTER
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Attorney General-elect Kris Kobach on Monday said he would hire a retired judge from the Kansas Court of Appeals to serve as solicitor general responsible for representing the state in civil and criminal appellate cases.
Kobach appointed Anthony Powell, who retired from the Court of Appeals in June, to the position. In 2013, Powell was selected for the Court of Appeals by then-Gov. Sam Brownback. He sought a seat on the Kansas Supreme Court in 2014, but wasn’t chosen by Brownback.
Powell previously served for a decade as a Sedgwick County District Court judge and four terms as a Republican member of the Kansas House.
“Judge Powell has earned great respect in the Kansas legal community,” Kobach said. “As a former judge himself, he knows how to effectively defend the rights of Kansans in state and federal courts. He will be a formidable litigator for the state of Kansas.”
Upon Kobach’s swearing in as attorney general, Powell would replace Brant Laue, who has served as Kansas solicitor general under Attorney General Derek Schmidt since 2020. Laue succeeded Toby Crouse, who was appointed by President Donald Trump to the U.S. District Court.
Powell said said he would sustain the “skilled professionalism from the solicitor’s office that I witnessed firsthand as a judge on the Kansas Court of Appeals.”
“I intend to advance sound legal arguments to the court and aggressively advocate for the people of Kansas as solicitor general,” Powell said.
On the Court of Appeals, he authored nearly 700 opinions. He graduated from law school at Washburn University in Topeka.