Kansas Chief Justice Lawton Nuss seemed to respond to Gov. Sam Brownback’s remarks pointed at the Supreme Court in his State of the Judiciary address reported Bryan Lowry for the Wichita Eagle.
“We do not take money from either side, nor do we decide cases from money’s distant cousins: threats and other pressures,” he said, after sharing a story about judicial corruption in France from Melvin Belli’s “My Life on Trial.” The chief justice held the copy of the book he’s had since his days in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Nuss went on to say, “We fairly and impartially apply the law.”
The Justice focused most of the rest of his speech on the funding of the judicial branch, saying courts would close in July if more money was not appropriated for them.
Nuss declined to say if any of his comments were aimed at Brownback when he spoke to reporters later.
He did respond when asked about legislation designed to remove the court’s authority.
“Well, my hope would be that they would leave those activities of the judicial branch alone,” he said.
The rest of the story from the Wichita Eagle can be found here.