Finalist for vacant Oklahoma Supreme Court seat tied to group that urged voters to create vacancy in the first place

Yahoo

28-03-2025

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — One of the finalists for an open seat on the Oklahoma Supreme Court has drawn scrutiny for his ties to a conservative group whose leaders helped push for the removal of a justice last year, raising concerns from some, including a former Republican attorney general.
The court vacancy was created in November, when Oklahoma voters narrowly chose to remove a long-serving justice.
As News 4 reported on multiple occasions leading up to the November 2024 election, a dark money group, 'People for Opportunity,' ran a TV ad urging voters to remove three justices from the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
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'Supreme Court Justices Gurich, Kauger, and Edmonson, all three are activist liberal judges,' a narrator said in the ad, which began airing in October 2024. 'You have the power to remove all three.'
News 4 spoke with People for Opportunity's spokesperson, Dave Bond, in October.
'We're talking about one of the three major branches of our state's government,' Bond told News 4 in October. 'A lot of Oklahomans are interested to know that there's still four justices on the state Supreme Court who were appointed by Democrat governors.'
People for Opportunity's ad paid off.
In November, Oklahoma voters chose to remove one of those justices, Yvonne Kauger.
14 people applied to fill Kauger's seat, and earlier this month, Oklahoma's Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) handed Governor Kevin Stitt a list of three finalists he can choose from to fill the vacant seat.
As News 4 has reported, the JNC is a nonpartisan group made up of lawyers appointed by the Oklahoma Bar Association, as well as people appointed by the governor, the House Speaker, and the Senate President Pro Tem.
Oklahomans voted to amend the state constitution and create the JNC after a bribery scandal plagued the state Supreme Court in the 1960s.
Prior to that, Oklahoma Supreme Court justices were elected by voters, running on the ballot as members of a political party.
Now, rather than Supreme Court seats being elected, qualified candidates can apply with the JNC to be considered to fill a vacant seat.
The JNC reviews applicants and narrows the pool down to a few finalists for the Governor to select from.
Political analyst and occasional co-host of News 4's FlashPoint, Jeff Berrong, says since Oklahoma modeled the JNC after a similar, highly-respected system in Missouri.
'[Now,] Oklahoma in general is regarded as having a very nonpartisan judiciary,' Berrong said.
Among the three finalists the JNC chose for Stitt to fill Kauger's seat are two judges who currently preside over lower courts in the state, one of whom was appointed to their current role by Stitt.
The third finalist, however, is a private attorney who has never been a judge.
'I was surprised,' said former Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, a Republican. 'It's important for somebody to have worn a black robe, to have heard arguments, to have interacted with attorneys as a judge, in my opinion.'
The attorney's name is Travis Jett.
Court records show Jett has represented the group 'Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs' (OCPA) in multiple lawsuits.
'[OCPA is] a conservative think tank,' said Berrong.
Berrong also says OCPA holds a decent influence over a certain faction of Oklahoma Republican legislators in deciding which policies they support.
OCPA has openly advocated for reforming and/or eliminating the JNC in recent years.
'They have had a long-held opinion that the Judicial Nominating Commission… they don't like it,' Berrong said. 'If you're wanting judges that have an ideological bent, you don't like something like the JNC because it makes it hard.'
As News 4 reported in October, Bond and several other members of People for Opportunity work for OCPA.
The ad, People for Opportunity—with Bond—ran in October, also criticized the JNC.
'All three appointed by the unelected, liberal Judicial Nominating Commission,' a narrator said in the ad.
Bond is OCPA's Vice President for Advocacy.
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State court records show Bond has helped OCPA's lobbying arm —a non-profit 501(c)(4) called 'OCPA Impact, Inc.'— carry out lawsuits attempting to stop things like Medicaid expansion and teacher pay raises from appearing on Oklahoma ballots as state questions.
Some of those lawsuits made it to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Court records show Travis Jett represented Bond and OCPA Impact during OCPA's Impact's lawsuits.
Berrong said the connections between Jett, Bond, People for Opportunity, and OCPA, in light of Jett being named a finalist for the Supreme Court vacancy, certainly leave him thinking.
'That was the whole point,' Berrong said. 'I mean, the whole plan was, they singled out these three justices who they did not like, they wanted them to be more conservative activist judges. And they singled them out. They said, we're going to run this campaign against them, so the governor—the hope would be—that he can appoint someone who will who will be more in line with what their views were.'
Over the past week, News has made attempts to speak with both Jett and Bond, but neither responded to News 4.
It's important to note, even though Jett is one of three finalists for the vacant seat, Governor Stitt could very well go choose one of the other two options.
Stitt also did not have any direct say over who the three finalists would be.
He has until May 12 to decide.
For Hunter, a self-described lifelong Reagan conservative, any possibility of a more politically motivated Oklahoma Supreme Court makes him nervous.
'Ronald Reagan said, 'Look, if I'm in court before of a judge, I don't want a Republican, I don't want a Democrat, I don't want a conservative or a liberal,'' Hunter said. 'I want somebody who's going to follow the law.'
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