The Oklahoma State Capital

A new Oklahoma Supreme Court justice has been appointed, and it's not one of the two local Logan County candidates who applied for the position.

Logan County District Judge Luke Duel, of Guthrie, and former State Solicitor General Mithun Mansinghani, of southern Logan County, failed to appear on Governor Kevin Stitt's shortlist of three candidates. The list was narrowed down from an original pool of 14 applicants by the state's controversial Judicial Nominating Commission after conducting interviews of the applicants. Neither Duel or Mansinghani survived that cut.

Instead, Stitt appointed Travis Jett, an attorney from Woodward. Jett has previously represented the Oklahoma State Board of Education and has practiced law with several high-profile firms in Oklahoma City. He also represented Stitt personally in matters related to his role as Oklahoma's governor.

Jett previously served as legal counsel for the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), an organization that aggressively advocates for removing the Judicial Nominating Commission from the state's judicial selection process—a position shared by Governor Stitt.

Duel, a long-serving associate district judge, was previously passed over by Stitt for the District 9 Judge position, which was instead awarded to another former attorney for Stitt, then-Oklahoma County resident Jason Reese. Reese has since relocated to Guthrie.

The Supreme Court vacancy was created when Oklahoma voters declined to retain longtime Justice Yvonne Kauger last November. Kauger became the first member of the Oklahoma Supreme Court to be removed by voters through the retention ballot process.