Sam Brownback Wants to Abolish State Court System

[Nasty Jack]

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has now decided to do away with the state court system...if they don't do his bidding. It has something to do with state courts taking away some of the powers of the Kansas Supreme court in connection with 2014 rulings on education. It ruled the state of Kansas failed to provide equity in public education as required by the state constitution. This was a part of Brownback's typical Republicanized budget which has put the state in dire financial straits. If Kansas courts agree with the Gov. they can go on their merry way. If not, their funding is cut.

This guy is almost as crazy as former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who passed the loose gun laws in her state that Brownback copied recently, posted by me in April.

But Brownback wasn't finished. Just recently the Republican governor indicated he was planning to expand Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s (R) authority “to prosecute voter fraud cases.” Even those state prosecutors have decided not to take to court. Voter fraud is a big GOP issue, which has been proved to be a huge exaggeration by the right, and is actually a cover up for forcing a certain Democratic block from the polls. Kobach's new powers are designed to do just that.

Sam Brownback has shown once again just how pig headed Republicans can be and just how steeped in their stupid ideology they are.

Nasty Jack

[Warpy]

1. Crazy? Not really. He's owned by the Koch brothers and will do their bidding

no matter what lunatic idea they come up with.

Undoubtedly the Koch boys find the court system highly inconvenient. It's much more congenial to have a governor one owns able to rule pretty much by fiat and never be challenged by some upstart judge.

[tblue37]

2. This issue is near the boiling point because of this ruling:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/03/1417884/-Judicial-Ruling-Results-in-Potential-Shut-Down-of-State-Courts?detail=email

Judicial Ruling Results in Potential Shut Down of Kansas State Courts

Attorney General Derrick Schmidt informed the courts today that their adverse ruling to the Republican preferred outcome in the Solomon case could have some negative financial results for the Kansas Judicial system. Judge Hendricks was asked to rule on an administrative change. Chief Justice Solomon had argued that the legislative change, which strips the Kansas Supreme Court of administrative authority over district courts, is unconstitutional and violates the separation of powers doctrine.

Judge Hendricks, persuaded by Justice Solomon's attorney Pedro Irigonegaray, ruled that the administrative change violated the balance of power in the Kansas constitution. Once that ruling came down, the Kansas legal system began to spin.

In a statement released on the Kansas Attorney General website, Attorney General Schmidt made the situation clear:

https://ag.ks.gov/...

“We are carefully reviewing the district court’s decision to determine next steps. My immediate concern, however, is that the court does not appear to have decided the validity of a ‘nonseverability’ clause contained in a later statute, which means today’s decision could effectively and immediately shut off all funding for the judicial branch of state government. Therefore, I intend to file tomorrow a formal request for the court to delay its decision to avoid this result. It is critical to keep the state judiciary operating.”

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