F
ive candidates will be on the Nov. 8 ballot who cannot, by law, campaign for office.
They are Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss and Justices Marcia Luckert, Dan Biles, Carol Beier and Caleb Stegall.
On Tuesday, Nuss and Luckert will be in Iola to meet not only with constituents but also with area high school seniors. An evening session at Iola High School Lecture Hall is open to the public.
But don’t expect the tenor typical of today’s campaign trail. There will be no ranting and raving, no brash accusations, no preening of feathers. They won’t strut their stuff in their flowing black robes.
Instead, they’ll play it close to the vest regarding the ongoing challenge to school finance — by statute, the justices cannot answer questions about pending cases or those they are likely to hear in the near future — while eager to discuss how they make decisions.
The student forum, for example, will include discussions of their constitutional rights, such as when police are called to search school lockers. Does that violate a student’s right to privacy? (They’ll learn Tuesday afternoon.)
They’ll also answer questions from students, talk about their personal journeys into law school and what it’s like to be a judge.
Justice Luckert is a graduate of Wasburn University’s law school and is one of two women on the seven-member court. Chief Justice Nuss is a former Marine and graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law.
The visit by the justices is especially timely leading up to November’s general election.
Never before has one branch of government, the judicial, faced such opposition from its counterparts, the legislative and executive branches. Conservative lawmakers have threatened not only to de-fund the judicial branch but also to impeach justices they consider a threat.
If the issue arises, no doubt the justices will maintain proper decorum, in part because that’s their nature, but also because state law requires all justices, “to the greatest extent possible,” to be free from political influence. The justices face “retention” elections every six years. The governor has the final say in who is appointed to the Kansas Supreme Court after three eventual nominees have made their way through a merit system. For the upcoming election, conservatives are targeting all of the justices except Stegall. He is Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s only appointee.
SO DOES that mean next Tuesday will be dry as toast?
Far from it.
A court of law, after all, is a lively and dynamic arena where decisions made can affect everyone’s lives.
Which is why their decisions, especially these days, appear very political.
Take school finance. Under the state’s constitution every child is to have the same opportunity for an adequate education.
