Jolie L. Justus (born February 24, 1971) is an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

from

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, she was a member of the

Missouri State Senate The Missouri Senate is the upper chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 34 members, representing districts with an average population of 174,000. Its members serve four-year terms, with half the seats being up for election every two yea ...

representing the 10th Senatorial District in Kansas City, serving as the Missouri Senate Minority Leader in her final two years.

Early life and education

A lawyer by trade, she was raised in

Branson, Missouri Branson is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. Most of the city is situated in Taney County, with a small portion in the west extending into Stone County. Branson is in the Ozark Mountains. The community was named after Reuben Branson, postma ...

, where she attended Branson High School. She then went on to earn degrees at

Southwest Missouri State University Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

and the

University of Missouri–Kansas City The University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) is a public research university in Kansas City, Missouri. UMKC is part of the University of Missouri System and one of only two member universities with a medical school. As of 2020, the university ...

School of Law. In 2011, Justus complete
Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government
program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as
David BohnettLGBTQ Victory Institute
Leadership Fellow.

Career

Jolie Justus was elected to the

in 2006. She represented Kansas City and Grandview and currently serves as the director of pro bono services for the law firm of Shook, Hardy, & Bacon LLP. Under her direction, this company has been recognized as one of the Top 100 free legal services programs in the nation. In 2015 Jolie Justus ran for Kansas City Council's 4th District seat to replace termed-out incumbent, Jan Marcason, and garnered 72% of the vote in the April 7 municipal primary. She won the June 23, 2015, Kansas City general election against her challenger, John Fierro, obtaining 76.4% of the votes. As a Kansas City Councilwoman, Justus is chair of the Airport Committee, co-chair of the Legislative Committee, and vice chair of the Finance Committee. She has also been a member of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, the City Market Oversight Committee, and the Midtown Housing Advisory Board. Prior to her time on the Council, Justus was both the Senate Democratic Leader in Jefferson City, as well as the chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Progress and Development. She was also the ranking member of both the Judiciary Committee and the Senate’s Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and Local Government. Justus introduced the Childcare Assistance Foster Care Reform bill while in the Senate, that would allow for children who opted out of the foster care system early, to be allowed to re-enter state custody until they turned 21. She also sponsored the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act, known as MONA, that would ban discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender. In addition, Justus co-sponsored the reform of the Criminal Code in 2014, which was passed in to law. Justus has also served as an adjunct professor at the UMKC School of Law since 2010. She ran for Mayor of Kansas City in the 2019 Kansas City mayoral election, where she was defeated by

Quinton Lucas Quinton Donald Lucas (born August 19, 1984) is an American politician serving as the 55th mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. He was elected in 2019. He is affiliated with the Democratic party and is the city's third African-American mayor. Before hi ...

Personal

Justus was the first

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

member of the Missouri Senate and only the third ever publicly gay member of the

Missouri General Assembly The Missouri General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bicameral General Assembly is composed of a 34-member Senate and a 163-member House of Representatives. Members of both houses of the General Assembly are ...

, after Representatives

Tim Van Zandt Tim Van Zandt (born September 17, 1963) is a nurse, former accountant and former politician from the U.S. state of Missouri. A Democrat, he served eight years in the Missouri House of Representatives representing Kansas City and became the fi ...

(D-Kansas City), and

Jeanette Mott Oxford Jeanette Mott Oxford (born July 16, 1954) is an American activist and politician from Missouri. She is a currently the Executive Director of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare, after having served as a member of the Missouri House of Rep ...

(D-

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

References

External links

*
Missouri Senate - Jolie Justus
''official government website'' * *Follow the Money - Jolie Justus
20082006
campaign contributions {{DEFAULTSORT:Justus, Jolie 1971 births 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians American women lawyers Lawyers from Kansas City, Missouri Lesbian politicians American LGBT city council members LGBT state legislators in Missouri Living people Missouri lawyers Democratic Party Missouri state senators Missouri State University alumni People from Branson, Missouri Politicians from Kansas City, Missouri University of Missouri–Kansas City alumni Women state legislators in Missouri