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Governor Kevin Stitt has announced the appointment of Judge M. John Kane, IV to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma.

Judge John Kane has served Osage County as District Judge for the 10th Judicial District since 2005. During his 14 years on the bench, he has presided as a judge in tens of thousands of cases, and he has served in a number of other capacities to include as president of the Oklahoma Judicial Conference from 2013-2014, as presiding judge-elect of the Northeastern Judicial Administrative District in 2019, and as presiding judge of the Oklahoma Court on the Judiciary in 2019. Kane began practicing as an attorney in 1987 at Kane, Kane & Kane Law Offices, P.C., a law firm founded by his father and grandfather in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. During this time, he also served as an administrative law judge for the Department of Human Services-Child Support Division from 1999-2005 and as an assistant district attorney from 1987 to 1989.

Kane received a B.S. in agricultural economics and accounting from Oklahoma State University in 1984 and a J.D. from the University of Oklahoma’s College of Law in 1987. Kane and his wife, Cynthia, have been married for 33 years and have four children.

Kane’s appointment fills the vacancy for District 1 created by the retirement of John F. Reif. Kane was one of three applicants provided by the Judicial Nominating Commission for the governor’s selection. Other applicants included Associate District Judge Russel Vaclaw for Washington County and Deborah Barnes, a judge on the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals.

This is Governor Stitt’s first appointment to the state Supreme Court.