A longtime liberal justice on Oklahoma’s Supreme Court has officially been replaced with a conservative.
Republican Governor Kevin Stitt handpicked Travis Jett to fill the vacancy left by Justice Yvonne Kauger.
Kauger lost a retention election in November.
This is Stitt’s fourth Supreme Court appointment.
The appointment marks the most of any Republican governor in the state’s history.
In Oklahoma, Supreme Court justices are nominated by a judicial commission.
They are then appointed by the governor.
Justices must then face voters at the end of each of their terms.
Kauger, who was appointed in 1984 by Democrat Gov. George Nigh.
However, Kauger was voted out last year.
Kauger became the first Supreme Court justice to ever lose retention in the state.
Jett has ties to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), a conservative advocacy group.
The group has called for overhauling the judicial nomination process.
The OCPA has cited research showing that Oklahoma’s Supreme Court is much more liberal than the state’s voters.
Oklahoma voters tend to lean conservative.
The Judicial Nominating Commission sent three candidates for Stitt to choose from, including two judges, Donna Dirickson and Jon Parsley.
Jett, a private practice lawyer, has never served as