TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Posts on a Kansas judges Twitter feed that included vulgar language and criticism of President Donald Trump prompted Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly to withdraw his nomination Tuesday for the states second-highest court and raised concerns about her vetting process.
Labette County District Judge Jeffry Jack also faced questions about whether he should remain on the trial-court bench in southeast Kansas. The Senates top leader said the states judicial ethics commission should review his conduct, and Kansans for Life, a politically influential anti-abortion group, called on him to resign.
Jack maintained in a statement that his tweets expressed anti-violence, anti-discrimination and anti-hypocrisy views and non-partisan personal opinions that do not affect his work on the bench. He declined to comment on the calls for his resignation and a review of his conduct.
Kellys withdrawal of Jacks nomination for the Kansas Court of Appeals came a day after key Republicans said he would not be confirmed by the GOP-dominated state Senate and four days after the governor announced the appointment. Kelly said she did not know about Jacks tweets beforehand.
The judges Twitter page includes tweets and retweets from 2017 with foul language or acronyms, some expressing support for abortion rights and gun control. A September 2017 tweet referred to Trump as Fruit Loops, and another said, I am so embarrassed that he is our President. The last tweet on his feed was in October 2017.
Who would ever think that a sitting judge would be participating in this these kinds of communications? Kelly told The Associated Press. It never occurred to us.
Senate President Susan Wagle, a Republican, said the state Commission on Judicial Qualifications should consider whether Jack violated a rule in the states code of conduct for judges requiring them to promote public confidence in their impartiality. Wagle said she is absolutely considering filing a complaint herself.
The commission can admonish judges that their conduct violated the ethics code and order them to stop. It can also recommend the Kansas Supreme Court consider harsher sanctions, such as a public censure, suspension or removal from the bench. Jack has not been sanctioned since becoming a judge in 2005.
He uses inappropriate language. He has a political bias expressed on the issue of abortion and on guns, Wagle told the AP.
The process of filling the appeals court vacancy is getting legally messier, too. The opening was created by the retirement of longtime Judge Patrick McAnany on the day Kelly took office in January.
Kelly said she will name a new nominee, but Wagle argued that the appointment now goes to the Kansas Supreme Courts chief justice.
A 2013 law says the governor forfeits the appointment power if she fails to nominate someone within 60 days of a vacancy, which was March 15. However, the same law says the governor can pick another nominee if the Senate rejects one.
Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican, advised them by letter that another nomination should be delayed until the legal question of who makes the appointment is resolved. Otherwise, he said, a cloud will hang over the head of any new appointee.
Jacks nomination was doomed Monday when Wagle announced she would not support his confirmation. She and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Rick Wilborn, also a Republican, called on Jack to withdraw, and even the committees top Democrat said he would advise him to drop out.
Jack, who served in the Kansas House as a Republican, criticized Wagle for opposing his confirmation before he even had a hearing. He said his tweets were nonpartisan and added that Wagle was upset because he criticized people in power that she supports.
