Kansas Antiabortion-Rights Group To Campaign Against Re-Election Of State Supreme Court Justice Over Abortion Rulings

Antiabortion-rights group Kansans for Life on Friday launched a campaign against the re-election of Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier because of majority opinions she wrote in 2006 and 2008 regarding abortion rights-related cases, the AP/Kansas City Star reports. KFL Executive Director Mary Kay Culp announced the campaign during a rally of about 1,000 antiabortion-rights advocates outside the state Supreme Court building on Friday, the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

State Supreme Court justices are appointed by the governor and must be re-elected by voters every six years to remain in office. According to the AP/Star, Kansas ended partisan elections for bench seats in 1960, and no justice since has failed to win retention with less than two-thirds of the vote. In addition to Beier, Justices Dan Biles, Marla Luckert and Lawton Nuss will be on the Nov. 2 ballot. There are seven justices total.

Beier upset abortion-rights opponents with two majority opinions she wrote in cases involving former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, an antiabortion-rights Republican who investigated abortion providers during his tenure as attorney general and later as Johnson County district attorney, the AP/Star reports (Hanna, AP/Kansas City Star, 1/23). According to the AP/Star, Beier wrote "scalding criticism[s]" of Kline's conduct, prompting abortion-rights opponents to claim she was politically biased and personally biased against Kline. Abortion-rights opponents also are wary of four of the current justices because they were appointed by former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), an abortion-rights supporter who is now HHS secretary (Hanna, AP/Kansas City Star, 1/24). Culp said KFL might run radio advertisements and broaden the campaign to include other justices. The group plans to mail 150,000 postcards before the election noting its opposition to Beier and listing its endorsements for other races, Culp said (AP/Kansas City Star, 1/23).

KFL also has said that changing the process for naming justices will be one of its key issues in this year's legislative session, the AP/Star reports. The group will advocate for state Senate confirmation of state Supreme Court nominees, an idea that has the support of the conservative Republicans. Currently, a nine-member nominating committee selects three finalists, who are then presented to the governor. Supreme Court nominees are not subject to Senate confirmation, unlike other major appointments. Many moderate Republicans and Democrats are wary of the proposal, which they believe would favor conservatives (AP/Kansas City Star, 1/24).


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