Making the best of a bad situation takes tact. IN THE LAST four years, the judicial department has been forced to operate with a significantly reduced staff and budget. Eighty staff vacancies have not been filled because of funding cuts. THE JUDICIAL system serves the people of Kansas in a most intimate way.
Kansas’ Chief Justice Lawton Nuss accepted with equanimity rejection by the Kansas Legislature to forego his annual address before the entire body. Instead, he spoke before a packed, but small, crowd in the courtroom of the Kansas Supreme Court.
Though his title is lofty, the chief justice is a humble sort. He hails from Salina, graduating from Salina High School. Cowboy boots poke out from his black robe. He’s a Semper Fi, having served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1975 to 1979. He then attended law school at the University of Kansas, where he also completed his undergraduate degree in history and English while with the ROTC.
Gov. Sam Graves appointed Nuss to the Kansas Supreme Court in 2002. At the time, the appointment was hailed as a breath of fresh air, by bringing someone who had worked in private practice 20 years directly to the high court position. In 2010, he was appointed chief justice.
To the shame of the Legislature, the chief justice has been disinvited for the second year in a row as part of a preamble before the governor’s State of the State address.
We won’t venture to guess why he is being shunned, other than it must be legislators fear a lecture would be forthcoming.
Not to be deterred, Nuss went ahead and laid the facts bare.
Lest you think they’ve adapted, the increased workloads have resulted in disgruntled employees, naturally, who are leaving the state for greener pastures, including private practice.
A 2011 study showed the judicial branch needs more, not fewer, employees to handle the caseloads. Kansas courts handle an average of 400,000 new cases each year.
For fiscal year 2014, the judicial budget is being asked to operate $8.25 million shy of what is needed to keep its doors open, and $19 million less than what is needed to bring the courts up to speed with electronic records, video-conferencing techniques and a larger staff.
Today’s hospitals are required to install electronic medical records to ensure safekeeping of patient data and in the long run, provide a system that will allow a nationwide database.
The same mechanism is desirable for U.S. courts. But Kansas lags far behind. To move from a paper world to electronic requires an investment. Pilot projects in Douglas, Leavenworth and Sedgwick counties through a federal grant have proved successful. The goal is to have a centralized statewide e-court system that allows for the filing and management of cases to be done electronically.
Video conferencing also would help trim costs for law enforcement, attorneys and clients, especially for those in the hinterlands.
It’s time the legislative and executive branches give the judicial branch its “day in court,” and accord it the courtesy inherent in justice.
— Susan Lynn
KS judicial branch deserves the respect it accords others
