Fair courts are again under siege in Kansas | Commentary

Chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Kansas Legislature is supposed to be yeoman’s work: good, honest and valuable. The job requires unrelenting perseverance and a hand that is skilled and steady as it pulls the levers of power at the highest reaches of our state government.

This committee has the power to pass bills and resolutions that abolish the death penalty, create new crimes, direct the attorney general to investigate public corruption or sexual abuse, restrict or enhance the rights of injured Kansans to pursue redress in civil courts or propose amendments to our state constitution.

Make no mistake, the Senate Judiciary Committee has the power to change our lives for better or worse, and to define the true extent of our liberties. But the political winds that blow across the plains and into the rotunda of the Kansas Statehouse are prone to kicking up dust — enough of it that we can’t see what this power is being used for, or why.

And when the dust settles this year, Kansans may well be in for an unpleasant surprise: Senate Judiciary Chairwoman Kellie Warren and her allies in the Senate are grasping at the levers in the judicial branch of government — our court system. These levers are not theirs to pull. But power grabs are enticing when you’re running for higher office, and Attorney General candidate Kellie Warren has an election at stake.

Even the most casual observer of Kansas politics must now recognize that our fair and free courts are under constant attack by power-hungry lawmakers. The allure of attempting to choose winners and losers in the court system is just too strong for lawmakers to avoid, which is why there is always another attack waiting in the hopper: Attack ads against sitting Supreme Court Justices. Underfunded courts. And now, attempted constitutional amendments injecting politics into our courts with a 500 mL syringe.

If candidate Warren and her Legislative allies have their way, partisan elections of Supreme Court justices or governor-appointed justices will be on the August ballot behind a high-wattage advertising campaign, and the merit system that has done Kansans well for over 60 years will be reduced to rubble. Political access will win, and Kansans will ultimately lose. Even if we don’t yet realize it.

In times of uncertainty like this, our system of free, fair and impartial courts is the only protection we have. When politicians fail us, non-partisan judges and citizen juries stand behind us. Our courts are the only barrier between liberty and tyranny. This is why they are under attack by politicians. If lawmakers and their most high-powered supporters did not see the advantage in politicizing our courts, they would not be pursuing these constitutional amendments.

We must urge our lawmakers to vote down Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) Nos. 1621 & 1622. Our courts have absorbed every single blow thus far, and this will be no different if we stand our ground.

We must not allow our politicians to extend their influence over us. We must preserve our fair and independent courts. We must act.