The battle in Kansas between the Republican leadership and the state courts has entered a new phase, reports The Kansas City Star.Four district court judges are now suing the state of Kansas. They’re upset about a 2014 law enacted by Governor Sam Brownback and the legislature, which took the power to appoint chief district court judges away from the state supreme court and handed it over to local judges. The legislature then stipulated that if the law should be struck down, all funding to the judicial branch would be canceled. Last week, the law was indeed struck down, and the judiciary only managed to avoid being shut down when a last minute stay was issued.
In their suit, the Kansas judges said the law violates the Kansas Constitution in several ways. They added that the legislation “significantly interferes” with the authority of the courts. The attorney for the judges called the measure to halt funding “unheard of.”
