When Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius appointed a Republican, Kansas Court of Appeals Judge Lee Johnson, to the state Supreme Court earlier this month, she got no props from House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls. He’s still pushing for Kansas Senate hearings and confirmation of appointees to both state courts — a fading reform idea that didn’t even get as many senators’ votes last March as it had sponsors the year before. Many realize it would needlessly politicize these courts and deter top lower-court jurists and attorneys from applying. Neufeld argues that the current process gives the Kansas Bar Association too great a role in filling these positions. “That setup that we now have has evolved to a good-old-boy club,” he told the Topeka Capital-Journal. But who better than the KBA, which chooses five of the nine members on the independent nominating commission that recommends three names to the governor, to ensure that these crucial jobs go to top legal minds rather than to clueless partisan hacks?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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12 Comments
The press won’t investigate, report or opine about this, but the Kansas Courts are HEAVILY politicized NOW. The following articles need to be updated to account for some recent appointments, but otherwise should be accurate:
Sebelius continues packing Kansas Supreme Court with Democrats: 5 Democrats Vs. 2 Republicanswhen Kansas has only 27% Democrats!
http://www.kansasmeadowlark.com/2005/07-22.htm
And what about the Supreme Court nominating commission? It’s also quite political:
Political Profile of Members of the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission:6 Democrats, 2 Republicans, 1 Republican for Moore
http://www.kansasmeadowlark.com/2006/07-03b.htm
Did the press report any of this last year?
Sebelius appoints wife of “dean of Ellis County Democratic politics” to Supreme Court Nominating Commission. Is Sebelius Concerned about Qualified Justices on the Kansas Supreme Court?http://www.kansasmeadowlark.com/2006/07-03/index.htm
Sebelius Replaces Appointee to Supreme Court Nominating Commission After 42 Dayshttp://www.saljournal.com/blogs/?p=1134
We have a “good-old-boy club” now.
Right on target, KS M. Sebelius does little that isn’t for the good of Kathy or her cohorts. Neither does Holman.
Rhonda,
Please. Are you that naive? This current system is politicized?
Lawyers dominated the process. That simply isn’t right.
If it works for the Federal judciary, why won’t it work for the State? Is the Federal bench full of partisan political hacks?
So there’s a Republican. Let’s look at the party affiliation of the Sup Ct and the App Ct and see which party is dominating the Kansas judiciary.
There is no perfect way to select judges; and there is no way to totally remove politics from the process.
I favor the federal system of judicial selection, but to pretend there isn’t a political undertone thereto is naive, at best. What I do not want to see is popular election of appellate judges; that is fraught with danger, IMHO. I hold to a perhaps idealistic belief that judges should be independent from the popular will, and concentrate on the law, not on popular opinion.
In Kansas we have almost the perfect natural experiment to compare elected vs. appointed judges, because we have a half and half process here. The question for me has been how does one easily collect valid data about judicial quality? I concluded it would be better left to someone doing a masters thesis who has some resources (funds) to devote to the investigation.
I oppose these litmus test surveys of judical candidates, which has been a thread here in the past.
You have a committee of unelected, unrepresentative left wing jerks nominating another batch of unelected, unrepresentative left wing jerks who tyrannically impose left wing dogma on an otherwise conservative state. That’s why authoritarian kooks like Holman loves them.
Then there’s the issue of the constant barrage of scandals involving these shysters. Take a look at who the sleaziest politicians in the state are and every damn one of them is a lawyer.
Then there’s the issue of tort reform as these slimy scumbags bankrupt honest businesses with needless burdens they have to go through just trying to anticipate getting sued by these scumbags.
I started doing a google search starting with the word lawyer and the second largest category was “lawyer jokes”. Well, they’re not jokes, they are the greatest threat to democracy we have. You can bust your behind trying to elect a legislature of honest people and one liberal judge and one otherwise frivolous left wing lawsuit will undo all your efforts.
The entire country needs radical legal reform to get the panels of these scumbags like the 9th Circuit and our own 7 Dwarves under control.
Remember the old adage, “The first thing we do let’s kill all the lawyers.” Not a bad idea.
How many democrats has Bush nominated to the SCOTUS?
At least Sebelius will elect a republican.
That’d never happen at the federal level. Give it up. This is really REALLY desperate.
It is not desparate, have you read the above? It is now a political system, and Melvin Neufield is right.
Yeah those supreme court judges, hell if they protect the little guy.
When Ben says honest legislators, that’s an oxymoron isn’t it?
Still mad that the judges said the legislature wasn’t funding the schools adequately.
That’s what this is all about. And of course, abortion too.
Yeah those supreme court judges, hell if they protect the little guy.
When Ben says honest legislators, that’s an oxymoron isn’t it?
Still mad that the judges said the legislature wasn’t funding the schools adequately.
That’s what this is all about. And of course, abortion too.
Actually, P_Mom, it’s all about the school finance litigation and the decision finding the Kansas Death Penalty unconstitutional (overruled by SCOTUS).
VT-
IIRC, about half the districts in Kansas are elected, half appointed. I wonder if there is any record of the quality of judging (as determined by % of reversals) between those two.
Of course, after reading what comes out of the appellate courts (Frazier, McAdam, and Montoy, for conspicuous example), I’m not sure I’m particularly impressed by their work either.
The most interesting part of this is the cry that the courts should not be “politicized.” They ARE politicized, and they have done it to themselves. When the KSSC dictates legislative policy, engaging in (or perhaps bypassing) political decisionmaking, they ARE political. To claim otherwise is to bury their heads in the sand.
When you make political decisions, you become political players, and must participate in the political game.