Humility is one of the key components for a judge to possess.

Kansas Supreme Court Justice Caleb Stegall made that clear when he spoke to Junction City High School government students this week. He was accompanied on his visit by District Judge John Bosch of Clay Center.

Stegall was asked questions by students including one about what happens when you make a mistake. “It really does get to the heart of the difficulty of human judging if you will and some of the dynamics that are at play always in a courtroom. ” Stegall added it gives him an opportunity to explain and give people confidence that courts have been in existence for hundreds of years. “And people smarter than all of us have thought long and hard about this. And we actually have structures in place that when they work are intended to mitigate against human frailties.”

Stegall noted that judges are people and do make mistakes. He said that’s why humility is an important quality for a judge. One point about the Kansas Supreme Court is that there are seven justices and that helps mitigates against anyone being wrong.

While they normally work in Topeka, the Kansas Supreme Court does schedule visits to other cities where they occasionally hold hearings.  The visit to Junction City came ahead of a Monday night Kansas Supreme Court session in Manhattan. Stegall stated it’s important for the Court to travel and it’s necessary to give citizens the opportunity to be participants in their own government.