Topeka ? A lower court judge has told the Kansas Supreme Court that a proposed grand jury investigation into abortion provider Dr. George Tiller should be allowed to proceed.

Michael Corrigan, chief judge of the 18th judicial district, described one of Tiller’s reasons for trying to block the Sedgwick County grand jury as “absurd.”

Tiller, of Wichita, argued that a petition drive used to call the panel represented harassment by anti-abortion groups that simply wanted to further their political agenda.

Abortion groups say Tiller has provided illegal late-term abortions, while Tiller has said he has complied with the law and been cleared in previous investigations.

The Kansas Supreme Court put the issue on hold until it could hear arguments in the matter.

In a filing with the court made available Monday, Corrigan stated that Tiller can’t stop a grand jury before it starts. It would be like trying to stop elections of officials who may pursue Tiller, the judge said.

“Just as a demand that there be no district attorney or no attorney general is absurd, it is absurd for any citizen to demand that no grand jury be summoned,” Corrigan said in a legal brief written by Topeka attorney David Cooper.

Corrigan also argued that Tiller can’t stop a grand jury into looking into issues because no allegation has been made by the panel.

“One cannot challenge an indictment which has not yet, and may never be, issued by a grand jury,” he argued.

Tiller’s legal team also has claimed that those seeking the petition have illegally distributed private medical records of women who had abortions. Corrigan said if that is true, that “may well become the subject of investigation by the grand jury.”

The grand jury originally was scheduled to be impaneled last month but has been held up because the state Supreme Court wanted to consider Tiller’s arguments.