Kansas high court upholds grand juries prompted by citizens

TOPEKA | The Kansas Supreme Court ruled today today that the state’s system of allowing citizen-petitioned grand juries is constitutional.

The unanimous ruling delivers a victory for anti-abortion groups that have used citizen-initiated grand juries to investigate alleged violations of state abortion law in Sedgwick and Johnson counties. Kansas is one of only a few states that allow citizens to prompt the creation of grand juries through petition drives.

The challenge to the law was brought by Wichita abortion provider George Tiller, who has twice been the subject of grand jury investigations.

Tiller’s attorneys argued that repeat citizen-prompted juries constitute harassment and violate the separation of powers doctrine by giving a panel of citizens the power of the executive and judicial branches to investigate crimes.

But the court argued that so long as a grand jury is properly supervised by a judge, there is no violation. The court ruled that it’s up to district court judges who oversee grand juries to prevent harassment.

“Grand juries are not licensed to engage in arbitrary fishing expeditions, nor may they select targets of investigation out of malice or with an intent to harass,” the decision reads.

The court also sent three related cases back to the Sedgwick County District Court for further review.

At the center of the case are medical records of as many as 2,000 former Tiller patients. The grand jury there asked for the redacted records, but Tiller objected and asked the Supreme Court to block the subpoenas.

The Supreme Court said the district court must decide whether the subpoenas constitute harassment. If not, the court said, then the lower court must ensure that the medical records are stripped of information that could identify patients.

To reach David Klepper, call 785-354-1388 or send email to dklepper@kcstar.com.