Four Kansas Supreme Court justices facing a campaign to oust them in the Nov. 8 election are defending the court’s handling of capital punishment cases.

Past high court rulings overturning death sentences are at the center of the effort to remove Chief Justice Lawton Nuss and Justices Carol Beier, Dan Biles and Marla Luckert.
Justice Caleb Stegall also is on the ballot for a vote on his retention, but he’s a 2014 appointee and not a target of the ouster campaign.

The four targeted justices declined to discuss specific cases this week in written answers to questions from The Associated Press, citing judicial ethics rules. But all four said the court is fair and impartial.

Nuss and Luckert also noted that the court has upheld several death sentences.