A scandal back in 1957 changed the way judges to the Kansas Supreme Court are appointed.
Known as the “triple play,” the cover-up involved the state’s governor, lieutenant governor and chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court.
Circumstances revolved around Chief Justice William Smith whose ill health was forcing him to retire. The trio devised a plan to put Gov. Fred Hall, who had been defeated in his bid for re-election, in Smith’s stead.
To trigger events, Chief Justice Smith resigned on Dec. 3, 1956.
Four days later, Gov. Hall, stepped down before he was to cede office to George Docking.
Hall’s resignation transferred the power of his office to his Lt. Gov. John McCuish, who in turn appointed Hall to Justice Smith’s position.
The scandal prompted Kansas legislators to amend the Kansas Constitution in 1958 so that it is not within a governor’s sole purview to select who sits on the state’s highest court.
TODAY, Kansas legislators are close to giving much of those same powers to Gov. Sam Brownback, and every other governor thence.
In his State of the State address on Tuesday, Brownback criticized the current system of selecting justices by which a non-partisan commission gives the governor three nominees from which to select.
Brownback, who maintains Kansas is “the only state in the country” to pick judges in this manner, says the nominating commission should be eliminated and the power transferred to that of the governor.
Kansas, of course, is not an outlier in how Supreme Court justices are selected. In fact, 24 other states, including Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, use similar methods.
And the benefit of such a system is that it works to eliminate, as much as possible, politics playing a role in a justice’s selection.
How Kansas differs from other states is that members of the Kansas Bar comprise the majority, five, of the seats on the nine-member commission; the other four, typically lay persons, are appointed by the governor.
Opponents say this gives attorneys too much power in deciding who the nominees are.
Some propose all justices should be determined by a popular vote of the people.
It’s our thinking, however, that those who deal with interpreting the Constitution have the best understanding of what makes a credible candidate.
Brownback already has set a precedent in bringing back-door politics to the Kansas courts.
In 2013, legislators gave him the sole power to nominate justices to the Court of Appeals, with approval by the Kansas Senate.
For us lay people, that’s called rubber-stamping.
TO GIVE Brownback this additional authority requires an amendment to the Kansas Constitution. Two-thirds of both legislative chambers would need to endorse the change to then be put before the people for a vote.
If this usurpation of power is unsettling to you, please contact your state representative or senator and ask them to block such legislation.
— Susan Lynn
