Conservative Kansas justice condemns ‘unfair’ attacks on Gov. Kelly’s rejected nominee
The Kansas Supreme Court’s most conservative justice is defending Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s Court of Appeals nominee, who was rejected after Republicans attacked his record as a public defender.
Justice Caleb Stegall, in an op-ed column published Tuesday, said that he was “disappointed … when again some chose to attack a judicial nominee because he has represented unpopular people; namely, criminal defendants.”
The attacks were “unfair to the nominee” – Carl Folsom III – but also belied “either a real ignorance of our system of justice or a cynical exploitation of that ignorance,” Stegall wrote in the column that appeared in The Topeka Capital-Journal.
The Kansas Senate rejected Folsom’s appointment last Wednesday in an 18-17 vote. Confirmation requires 21 votes – a majority of the chamber.
Stegall’s column – coming after a party-line vote – is an extraordinary insertion by a sitting justice into a public controversy that isn’t before his court. Justices, who appear on the ballot every six years, generally steer clear of commenting on current affairs.
“Carl Folsom gave us all an inspiring example of this when he responded to the vote of the Kansas Senate with grace and class, saying that ‘Kansans … are resilient. Time to go help some more people,’” Stegall wrote.
He added: “We should all be able to put ourselves in the shoes of another and say: ‘If I were accused of a crime, I would want someone like Mr. Folsom in my corner.’”
Stegall wrote that when he was nominated to the Court of Appeals in 2013 by Gov. Sam Brownback, some senators argued he shouldn’t be confirmed because he had worked for Attorney General Phill Kline. Kline’s law license was indefinitely suspended after the Kansas Supreme Court found “clear and convincing” evidence of professional misconduct.
Folsom, a longtime state and federal public defender, in 2014 represented an Oklahoma man, Jeffrey Morrison, convicted of possessing child pornography. Folsom argued for a reduction of the man’s 10-year sentence in a federal court appeal.
“When the FBI concluded their investigation, they found more than 20,000 images on this individual’s computer — pornographic images of girls from the age of five to 15, images that were so horrific they included penetration,” Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican, said before voting against Folsom.
Other Republicans voiced concerns over Folsom’s experience. Sen. Kevin Braun, a Kansas City Republican, said Folsom “admittedly lacks the civil and prosecutorial experience that would be instructive to his decisions at the appellate level.”
Since the vote, attorneys have rallied around Folsom. The Kansas Bar Association said in a statement that Folsom was “eminently qualified” and should have been confirmed.
This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Conservative Kansas justice condemns ‘unfair’ attacks on Gov. Kelly’s rejected nominee."