Stephen Newton Six (born December 11, 1965) is an American attorney and former

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

from

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

who served as the state's 43rd

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

. He was nominated to serve as a judge on the

United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (in case citations, 10th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Colorado * District of Kansas * Dist ...

on March 9, 2011. His nomination was returned to the President on December 17, 2011, pursuant to the rules of the Senate. He served as a partner at the Kansas City, New York, and San Diego–based law firm, Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP.

Early life and education

Stephen Six is the son of former Kansas Supreme Court Justice Fred Six. He received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1866, the main campus is between Northfield and the approximately Carleton ...

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, Dakota and Rice County, Minnesota, Rice counties in the U.S. state, state of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 U ...

, in 1988 and earned his J.D. degree from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

in 1993.

Career

Following graduation from law school, Six served as a

law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...

to Judge Deanell Reece Tacha of the

. From 1994 to 2005, he served as a partner in the

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, law firm of Shamberg, Johnson, and Bergman. He was appointed as a judge on the Douglas County Circuit Court by Governor Sebelius in January 2005, serving in that post until his appointment as attorney general by Governor Kathleen Sebelius in 2008. Six was defeated in the 2010 general election by Republican

State Senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

Majority Leader

Derek Schmidt Derek Larkin Schmidt (born January 23, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district since 2025. He previously served as the Kansas Attorney General from 2011 to 2023. A Repu ...

. Following completion of his service as attorney general, he became a partner in the Kansas City, Missouri, firm Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP.

43rd Attorney General of Kansas

Six was recognized by Kansas editorial boards for restoring professionalism and stability to the office after the tenures of previous Attorneys General, Republican Phill Kline whose bar privileges were suspended, and Democrat Paul J. Morrison whose personal problems forced him from office. Six was also recognized for cutting the office's taxpayer-funded budget almost in half. Six focused the office on protecting consumers and cracking down on fraud and waste in the state Medicaid program. During Six's tenure, the Consumer Protection Division recovered $39.5 million on behalf of Kansans. The Medicaid Fraud Division recovered $66.2 million. In 2008, Six became the first Kansas Attorney General in 35 years to personally prosecute a case. He earned a jury conviction in 2008 of Kenneth Wilson for the first-degree murder of Scott Noel in Osborne County, Kansas. He earned a jury conviction in 2009 of Israel Mireles for the capital murder of Emily Sander in

Butler County, Kansas Butler County is a county in the U.S. state of Kansas and is the largest county in the state by total area. Its county seat is El Dorado and its most populous city is Andover. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 67,380. The ...

. On December 1, 2008, Attorney General Six argued before the United States Supreme Court in '' Kansas v. Colorado'', a dispute over Colorado's overuse of water in the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...

Failed nomination to the Tenth Circuit

On March 9, 2011, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

nominated Six to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, to fill the vacancy left by Judge Deanell Reece Tacha who assumed senior status on January 27, 2011. His nomination was strongly opposed by his home state senators,

Pat Roberts Charles Patrick Roberts (born April 20, 1936) is a retired American politician and journalist who served as a United States senator from Kansas from 1997 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Roberts served 8 terms in the U.S. House of R ...

and Jerry Moran. Because of that opposition, the Judiciary Committee chose not to take up his nomination. His nomination and others were returned to the president on December 17, 2011, pursuant to the rules of the Senate, and the president chose not to renominate him.

Personal

Six is married to Betsy Brand Six, a law professor at the University of Kansaslaw.ku.edu
and is a member of the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...

. His youngest son, Will Six, played tennis during his college career.

References