Kansas Supreme Court selection is already political. Give voters a voice | Opinion
I disagree with the sentiment that the way we pick Kansas Supreme Court justices is somehow above reproach and free from political taint and influence. I hate to break the news to those that share this sentiment, but the process is rife with politics — it’s just happening behind closed doors.
Five of the nine members on the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission are lawyers. These lawyer seats are filled through elections open only to licensed Kansas attorneys — roughly 8,000 to 11,000 people. But here’s the thing: We have no idea who actually shows up to vote in those elections. The Kansas Supreme Court clerk releases only the winners’ names. No vote totals. No turnout numbers. Nothing. So, we do not know if it is a broad slice of the legal profession or just a small, active group of insiders. The decision to not be transparent is a political choice, is it not?
The Kansas Bar Association doesn’t make direct donations or run a PAC, but its members sure do. Nationally, when lawyers write campaign checks, they give to Democrats over Republicans by at least a 2-to-1 margin — often much more. That partisan lean from the same group that controls the majority of the commission matters. That is political by definition.
I sat and watched seven of the 15 interviews for the last state Supreme Court opening, including all three finalists who went to the governor. They were only half-hour interviews, and the questions struck me as pretty soft. I’m not surprised though, as several of the commissioners are lawyers. They might have to practice their craft one day in front of these applicants. Surely that is political gamesmanship.
And let’s not forget the other side of the commission. The four non-lawyer members are appointed by the governor — more politics. Then the governor still has to pick from the three names the commission sends over. Still more politics.
If in this cascade of political activity, you are left wondering how we ended up here, it goes back to the Kansas “Triple Play” scandal in the 1950s. A governor lost reelection, resigned and was quickly appointed chief justice by the lieutenant governor who replaced him before the new governor could be sworn in — raw cronyism to be sure. The public was furious, and in 1958 passed a constitutional amendment to fix it.
Unfortunately, all they accomplished was to move the process behind closed doors, referring to it as the so-called “merit-based” system.
Kansas voters deserve better. We want a process that inspires confidence even when we do not get our first choice. Right now, the status quo does not accomplish that.
That is why I will vote yes on Aug. 4 to amend the Kansas Constitution to let voters — instead of just lawyers and politicians — directly elect state Supreme Court justices. Let candidates run in the open for several months. Let them answer real questions in public forums and debates with no doubt a hostile press in hot pursuit. A half-hour private interview simply cannot compare to that kind of rigorous public scrutiny.
It is in the sunshine, after all, where timber is best discerned from rot.
Jim Eschrich, a nearly 40-year Johnson County resident, is running as a Republican candidate for Kansas House District 17.