In this July 19, 2011 file photo, former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline stops to talk to reporters briefly before the start of an ethics hearing in Topeka, Kan.

Topeka ? Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline is asking a federal court to restore his license to practice law in Kansas, arguing that he was denied an opportunity for a fair hearing.

The 70-page complaint, which alleges that Kline was the victim of an “arbitrary and lawless” process carried out by his political adversaries, was filed Sunday, two years to the day after the Kansas Supreme Court suspended his license indefinitely over his handling of investigations of abortion clinics.

“The Kansas abortion industry and its attorneys also led a smear campaign against Mr. Kline’s investigation and his intentions, including hysterical fabrications and misstatements about Kline’s handling of sensitive medical records and threats to women’s privacy,” said Richard Peckham of Andover, one of the attorneys representing Kline, during a news conference announcing the lawsuit.

Attorneys Richard Peckham of Wichita, left, and Tom Condit of Cincinatti, Ohio, represent former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline in a federal are challenging the Kansas Supreme Court's decision in 2013 to suspend Kline's law license indefinitely.

Peckham acknowledged that he is also chairman of Kansas Judicial Review, an organization that seeks to change the way Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected. Kline himself did not attend the news conference.

Kline, who now teaches law at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., served one term as Kansas attorney general, from 2003 through 2007, and devoted much of the office’s attention to a crusade against abortion clinics.

It began almost from the day he entered office when he was asked to write an opinion about the state’s mandatory reporting law, which requires certain professionals to report cases of suspected abuse or neglected children.

In June 2003, Kline issued an opinion that the Kansas Supreme Court later called a “sea change” in reporting requirements.

Kline’s opinion held that abortion providers have a duty to report any patient they treat who is under age 16 to state welfare officials because that’s the age of consent under Kansas law, and therefore any child under age 16 who seeks an abortion is, by definition, a victim of sexual abuse.

Kline then went on a quest to obtain medical records from abortion providers, including Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood in Kansas City and physician George Tiller’s Women’s Health Care Services in Wichita.

That led to a flurry of litigation in both state and federal courts as the clinics and other groups sought to block Kline’s office from getting those records. But a Shawnee County judge granted Kline’s office limited authority to view some of the records he had requested.

In 2006, Kline was defeated for re-election by Paul Morrison, who was then the Republican district attorney in Johnson County who switched parties to run for attorney general as a Democrat. But in an odd political twist, the Johnson County Republican party elected Kline to serve the remainder of Morrison’s unexpired term, and so in January 2007, the two men swapped offices.

Kline then took with him to Johnson County many of the files he had obtained as attorney general, and he continued trying to prosecute abortion providers in Johnson County. But he was defeated in the 2008 Republican primary when he ran seeking a full four-year term.

Disciplinary proceedings related to his abortion clinics probe began soon afterward, and in 2013 — just more than a decade after the controversy began — the Kansas Supreme Court suspended his license to practice law indefinitely, citing multiple instances of violating the Kansas Code of Professional Conduct.

In that proceeding, however, five of the seven justices on the Supreme Court recused themselves because they had initiated part of the complaint, citing actions Kline’s office took in cases that came before the Supreme Court.

A disciplinary panel found, among other things, that boxes containing sensitive medical records were stored in the apartment of one of Kline’s investigators for more than a month as they were being moved from the attorney general’s office to the Johnson County district attorney’s office.

As part of his challenge in federal court, Kline’s attorneys argue that the panel was an “unlawful tribunal” because the five replacement judges were appointed by only one of the remaining justices, Dan Biles, and not by the Supreme Court as a whole, as required by the Kansas Constitution.

Kline also alleges that he was denied due process, that the court misinterpreted the code of professional conduct, and that the proceedings were biased from the outset.

Laura McQuade, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said in a statement Monday that the court acted properly when it suspended Kline’s law license.

“Phill Kline is a nationally recognized example of what happens when a public official abuses their power for a personal crusade. Kline sought and failed to end safe and legal abortion in Kansas through state-sanctioned harassment. During Kline’s crusade, he repeatedly violated the Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys, including rules that prohibit engaging in false or dishonest conduct.”