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Tony Powell

Nominated Trump 2.0

Nominated to the United States District Court for the District of Kansas

  • AFJ Opposes
  • Court District Court
  • Date Nominated

On February 18, 2026, President Trump nominated Tony Powell to the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. 

View/download the fact sheet here.

Biography

Powell grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He earned a B.A. in Political Science from George Washington University in 1985 and a J.D. from Washburn University School of Law in 1991.

Legal Experience

Prior to his legal career, Powell served as legislative director to Congressman William Broomfield (R-MI) and interned for Senator Bob Dole (R-KS). After graduating from law school, Powell spent eleven years at the Kansas law firm Martin & Churchill, where his practice focused on business and employment law. He then served in the Kansas House of Representatives for eight years. Immediately afterward, Powell was elected to the bench in Kansas’s Eighteenth Judicial District, where he served as a state district judge for ten years. He was then appointed to the Kansas Court of Appeals in 2013. In 2022, Powell assumed his current role as Kansas Solicitor General.

Key Facts & Context

Professional and Legal Associations

The Federalist Society (2003-present); Kansas Bar Association (1991-2013, 2026); Wichita Bar Association (1991-2013, 2026); Wesley Brown Inn of Court (2013-2014); Kansas District Judges’ Association (2003-2013); Bill of Rights Institute – Kansas Advisory Board Member (2008-2011); Kansas Judicial Council, End of Life Decisions Advisory Committee (2006-2008); Kansas Supreme Court Committee on High Conflict Divorce (2006); Hope Net, Inc. (2005-2011)

  • Powell currently serves as Kansas Solicitor General under Attorney General Kris Kobach, a nationally prominent advocate of restrictive voting laws and aggressive theories of state power. Kobach’s office has been repeatedly associated with efforts to narrow voting access and expand state authority in civil rights disputes.
  • As Solicitor General, Powell has defended Kansas’s “Women’s Bill of Rights,” which defines sex strictly based on biological sex at birth and limits recognition of gender identity in state law and records.
  • In litigation over gender markers on driver’s licenses, Powell stated that individuals who object to Kansas’s sex classification system could simply choose not to obtain a driver’s license, an impractical solution which ignores the necessity of ID for employment, travel, and basic services.
  • Powell also stated that he considers “sex” and “gender” to be interchangeable, and that this understanding was “common sense.”
  • During his time as Solicitor General, Powell filed briefs urging the termination of long-running Kansas school finance litigation used to enforce constitutional requirements for equitable public education funding.