Kansas Supreme Court turns down recusal request in case that could shut down the courts
All but one justice on the Kansas Supreme Court will hear a challenge to a state law on the selection of chief judges, though its “institutional power” and court funding are at stake.
The court issued a per curiam order (PDF) on Monday finding that recusal is not required, the Kansas City Star, the Topeka Capital-Journal and the Wichita Eagle report. Chief Justice Lawton Nuss nonetheless voluntarily recused himself because of public statements he had made about the law.
The law gives lower courts, rather than the state supreme court, the power to select chief judges for their courts. The challenge claims the law violates a provision of the state constitution giving the state supreme court general administrative authority over the state’s courts.
The legislature also provided that a decision striking down the law would invalidate related measures, including, apparently, provisions for state funding of the judiciary.
The supreme court said having its “institutional power” at stake is not a basis for recusal. To the extent that any financial interests of the justices may be at stake, the court said, the rule of necessity nonetheless requires them to hear the case.
“If having the court’s institutional power at stake were a valid basis for recusal, this court frequently would be unable to fulfill its constitutional duty to the people of Kansas,” the court said.
