Cohen: Drawing the line in political battles

Monday, February 1, 2010

What do you do when one of your icons doesn't have the law on his side? Apparently, you try and change who interprets the law. At least, that is the page in the playbook of an anti-abortion group, Kansans for Life. While protesting Roe v. Wade at the Kansas Judicial Center recently, the group announced they would campaign against Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier in her retention election later this year.

Why is this? Apparently Kansans for Life didn't like some recent rulings she handed down in hearings involving former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline. But, conservatives railing against so-called "activist judges" are nothing new. People trying to oust judges in retention votes aren't new, either.

I spent a summer a few years ago interning at the Judicial Center. Occasionally, I got to read or hear stories about all the times some fringe group or another has campaigned against a Supreme Court justice and failed miserably. I believe that none have succeeded at all in this state since the Supreme Court became an appointed, not elected, position, in fact.

We can argue all day about the merits of the rulings against Kline. What he did, regarding moving medical records subpoenaed from an abortion clinic in Wichita out of the possession of the Attorney General’s office, did go against an order by the Supreme Court. This matter was settled about a year ago in the hearing that featured Justice Beier’s controversial ruling.

So, here we have the basis for the ruling, and why the majority opinion contained such harsh criticism (Kline was described as showing “little, if any respect” for the Court). But, is this the way to fight for a cause? Coming to the defense of somebody who has been an awful spokesman for a cause, and who hasn’t been able to win public election on both state and county levels for the better part of a decade?

The members of Kansans for Life think it is, sadly. The group will fail, as well they should; but, they will continue on in their inane efforts to fight against reproductive choice, and we will be forced to watch it all.

Why then, if the effort is almost guaranteed to fail, is this news annoying? Kansans for Life is crossing a line when they go after the Judicial Branch in this way. The one non-partisan branch of government is that way for a reason, to make sure that nobody interpreting the law is beholden to the ideology of a fickle electorate.

By targeting Justice Beier, and threatening similar campaigns against other judges, Kansans for Life is trying to inject a fear of their far-right beliefs into the justice system itself. The statement they make is "rule the way we want, not the way the law dictates, or suffer the consequences."

We can take solace in the likelihood that the group will fail. But if this level of ambition continues past the upcoming election, it is a given that we will be subjected to more such campaigns, for equally shoddy reasons.

— Cohen is a senior from Topeka in political science.

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