Oklahoma’s Judicial Nominating Commission announced the selection of Donna Lynn Dirickson, Travis Verl Jett and Jon Keith Parsley as the three candidates to send to Gov. Kevin Stitt for appointment to the Supreme Court. After Justice Yvonne Kauger lost her retention election last year, 14 applicants filed with the commission to fill the vacancy.
Stitt must select a nominee to be sworn onto the court within 60 days. With the Legislature mulling more attempts at reforming Oklahoma’s judicial nominating process, Stitt’s pick could become the last justice selected by the JNC.
Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle) is running Senate Resolution 6, a measure that would ask voters to approve removing the JNC from the process for filling all appellate court vacancies. Instead, the governor would nominate someone, and the Senate would vote to appoint or reject them. Across the rotunda, Speaker Pro Tempore Anthony Moore (R-Clinton) is pushing House Joint Resolution 1024, which would ask voters to modify qualifications and terms for the JNC’s 15 seats. Moore is also running House Bill 2103 about JNC transparency.
During the last session, debates between the House and Senate over whether the proposal should also include state representatives consenting to appointments derailed the measure, but both chambers find themselves under new leadership this session.
Stitt and the conservative Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs have supported eliminating the JNC, while its defenders, like the Oklahoma Bar Association who elects some members of the commission, defend the commission as nonpartisan and a protection against corruption. The JNC originates from a 1960s scandal on the Oklahoma Supreme Court where several justices were implicated in bribery schemes. Prior to the reforms that created the JNC, most judges in Oklahoma were elected on partisan ballots.
3 candidates emerge from 13 interviewees
After conducting interviews with 13 of the candidates on Tuesday, the commission released their three candidates the next day. Among the 10 candidates eliminated were a former state representative, five judges and a former Oklahoma solicitor general.
Donna Dirickson is a district judge for Beckham, Custer, Ellis, Roger Mills and Washita counties, a position Stitt appointed her to last year. An Oklahoma City University School of Law graduate, Dirickson previously served as the Custer County associate district judge from 2009 to 2024.
Travis Jett, a Georgetown University Law Center graduate, is a private practice attorney with the Hodgden Law Firm in Woodward. While he is the only nominated candidate without judicial experience, Jett lists a variety of experiences on his website. Jett has represented the Oklahoma Tax Commission, Corporation Commission, Ethics Commission, Department of Health and State Department of Education in litigation, as well as the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.
Jon Parsley is a district judge for Texas, Cimarron, Beaver and Harper counties appointed by former Gov. Mary Fallin in 2014. In 2009, he served as the president of the Oklahoma Bar Association.
Applicants eliminated by the JNC interview process included: Associate District Judge Aric Alley, former Rep. Scott Biggs, Associate District Judge Louis Duel Jr., attorney Spencer Habluetzel, Associate District Judge Michelle Kirby-Roper, former Oklahoma Solicitor General Mithun Mansinghani, attorney Nisha Moreau, Associate Judge Lawrence Schneiter IV, attorney Chelsea Smith and District Judge Stuart Tate. Paul Hesse, one of the original 14 candidates, withdrew his application from consideration.
Bar Association to have summer elections for 2 JNC seats
Six members of the JNC are elected by members of the Oklahoma Bar Association, one from each of the state’s congressional districts that existed in 1967. In 2025, Oklahoma lawyers have the privilege of voting for members to represent Districts 3 and 4, which compromise roughly southeastern and southwestern Oklahoma, respectively.
In order to apply, applicants must be a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association and reside in their district, as well as submit either a petition signed by 10 attorneys nominating them as a candidate or a resolution of nomination from a county bar association, according to the bar association’s internal election procedure. Nominating petitions or resolutions are due to the Oklahoma Bar Center by 5 p.m. May 16, and should be accompanied by a 100 word biography and photograph.
Ballots will be mailed to attorneys living in District 3 and 4 on June 6, must be returned by June 20, and results will be announced on June 23. If needed, a runoff election would be completed in July.
Unlike normal elections for office in Oklahoma, if two candidates do not file for either seat, then the OBA board of governors will draft qualifying candidates until each district has at least two attorneys on the ballot.
In a post announcing the elections, the OBA hinted at Oklahoma’s infamous Supreme Court bribery scandal, which spurred the 1967 dueling-question election that created the JNC.
“It is important to the administration of justice that the OBA members in the Congressional Districts 3 and 4 become informed on the candidates and cast their votes. The framers of the constitutional amendment entrusted to the lawyers the responsibility of electing qualified people to serve on the commission,” the OBA’s website states. “Hopefully, the lawyers in Congressional Districts 3 and 4 will fulfill their responsibility by voting.”
