Liz Seaton: Kansas not alone in trying to politicize courts

Are state legislatures breaking all records for attempts to rig our courts? The results are still coming in, yet it appears to be a banner year for elected politicians trying both new and well-established ways to bully, politicize or pack impartial courts.

What’s alarming is that they are succeeding: Their efforts in Kansas, Wisconsin and North Carolina have passed into law. These politicians want to rewrite the definition of justice from being blind to being blindly partisan. If citizens don’t stand up against these attacks, they may not be able to count on their constitutional guarantee of a fair day in court.

Kansas is over the top among states engaging in court-bashing this year. As a direct result, recent headlines are asking whether the entire court system may be shut down. Legislators in Topeka have made no secret of their unhappiness with the Kansas Supreme Court’s rulings about funding public education, and a constitutional crisis could be on the horizon.

The legislators’ blitz has included proposals to give Gov. Sam Brownback more control over selecting state Supreme Court justices, or switch from a merit-based appointment system to contested elections; to permit the recall of these judges; to lower their mandatory retirement age; and to make it easier to impeach them, even if it’s just for views that clash with the Legislature’s. These unsuccessful bills would have made it easier to dump judges who hew to the law, not politics.

What the Legislature actually did pass, and Brownback signed into law, is narrower but no less audacious: a measure to defund all Kansas courts if any state judge overturns a 2014 law removing the state Supreme Court’s authority to select chief district judges. Could the message be any clearer? “Decide a legal case the exact way we want, or we’ll put you out of business.”

After a judge this month struck down the judicial-appointment law for violating the separation of powers, the court-defunding law is now facing a constitutional challenge in court.

In Wisconsin, legislators pushed through a ballot initiative this year on a party line vote to amend the state constitution, laying the foundation for replacing a liberal, longtime chief justice in the middle of an elected term of office with a conservative one. And that’s exactly what happened. The court’s conservative majority voted quickly, by e-mail, for the change in leaders, which consolidated political clout on the court.

In North Carolina, legislators passed a bill changing the way elected Supreme Court justices go about seeking a new term. The process is being changed not to insulate the judiciary from political pressure but to protect a 4-3 Republican majority on the state’s highest court.

No matter which party is responsible, there is a growing tide of pressure around our courts, and every American needs to worry about it. In Oklahoma and Washington state, elected politicians recently threatened to impeach judges over controversial rulings. If judges can’t make hard calls based on the law, without looking over their shoulder at threats of political retaliation or manipulation, it will become harder for them to uphold the Constitution and protect people’s rights.

And if Americans don’t stand up, then their political leaders won’t stand up for them. This year’s offensive in state legislatures to inject partisan politics into the courthouse has demonstrated that fact.

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Liz Seaton: Kansas not alone in trying to politicize courts."