DJ profiles 4/2's Justice Slough

Today's DJ features Nothing Tentative: Appellate Justice Marsha Slough has issued opinions that lawyers find surprising, detailed and thoughtful. The article begins by saying that she is "a soft-spoken justice who uses an economy of words" and that her "questions and comments in oral arguments don't necessarily forecast her written decision." "Slough said that it is rare for justices to do a complete reversal from the tentative. But she has significantly deviated from the court’s initial ruling in two recent published cases."

Slough grew up in Texas and moved to Kansas as a young child. “I call myself a blue-collar judge and justice,” she said. “I come from a blue-collar family. I have parents who worked hard and didn’t have high school diplomas,” she said, referring to a father who is a trucker and a mother who worked as a part-time accountant.