For my final post in this series on judicial selection, I think a little history might be of value. We haven’t always been free of blatant partisan politics in our selection of judges. In 1956, Warren Shaw defeated Governor Fred Hall in the Republican Primary but lost to George Docking, Democrat, in the General Election. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at that time, William Smith--a good friend of still Governor Hall--was also very ill. What followed is what has historically been referred to as the triple play. In the December before Docking was sworn in, Smith resigned as Chief Justice. Hall then resigned as Governor, moving Lt. Governor McCuish up to Governor. Then Governor McCuish appointed former Governor Hall the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas. The public outrage that followed led to the voters adopting a constitutional amendment for merit selection, giving us the Supreme Court Nominating Commission we have today.
Then in the early 70’s, former Republican Governor Ed Arn led a commission to study, in depth, the court system in Kansas. That study produced the Unified Court System that brought many changes, including the creation of the Kansas Court of Appeals. I served on that commission after being appointed by then House Minority Leader, Pete Loux. Change is difficult and this set of changes did not come easy. In 1977, in a bipartisan vote, the legislature adopted the package, and it was signed into law by Republican Governor Robert Bennett.
Before us now are changes under review that would take us back to a system very much like what we threw out in the 1950’s. With our current politics of one party rule, you have the possibility of voting on these constitutional changes in August of 2016. With no statewide primary elections in 2016, what would dictate the turnout? It certainly would not be local Democratic Party primary races. But you would have the traditional Republican primary turnout, which currently favors the far right--the ones pushing this change. Looks a little like the triple play of the 50’s, doesn’t it? And we know how that turned out.
Then in the early 70’s, former Republican Governor Ed Arn led a commission to study, in depth, the court system in Kansas. That study produced the Unified Court System that brought many changes, including the creation of the Kansas Court of Appeals. I served on that commission after being appointed by then House Minority Leader, Pete Loux. Change is difficult and this set of changes did not come easy. In 1977, in a bipartisan vote, the legislature adopted the package, and it was signed into law by Republican Governor Robert Bennett.
Before us now are changes under review that would take us back to a system very much like what we threw out in the 1950’s. With our current politics of one party rule, you have the possibility of voting on these constitutional changes in August of 2016. With no statewide primary elections in 2016, what would dictate the turnout? It certainly would not be local Democratic Party primary races. But you would have the traditional Republican primary turnout, which currently favors the far right--the ones pushing this change. Looks a little like the triple play of the 50’s, doesn’t it? And we know how that turned out.
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