To the editor:

Living in Lawrence I was working as a lawyer handling cases in courts across Texas. A judge there, who knew me only through my cases in her court, called one morning asking for campaign money. That doesn’t happen in Kansas where judges aren’t forced to curry political favor, seeking election as Democrats or Republicans.

While Congress has been failing its job, federal judges across the country have stepped up and stood tall acting as the the only consistent check on a malign presidency. With lifetime appointments those federal judges aren’t immune to politics but, relatively, they are insulated.

Our Kansas Supreme Court is similarly protected by a bipartisan appointment process by which a panel of lawyers, elected by the local lawyers of each congressional district, vets candidates and works together with an equal number of lay citizens appointed by the governor representing each congressional district, to nominate three candidates from which the governor must choose one. That system has worked well for a long time.

Kansas has a history of qualified, good Supreme Court judges. In the upcoming August primary election, the Republican legislative supermajority is asking us to change the constitution, surrendering our citizen power over Supreme Court appointments, giving it to them. Their motive is clear: Change the court, reverse the 2022 referendum and ban abortion. But it’s more important than that. We should not want to be like Texas. Keep politics out of Kansas courts.

And they’re repeating their Aug. 2, 2022, abortion referendum strategy, hoping to take advantage of typically low turnouts for primary elections. Let’s not be fooled. Mark your calendars. Show up and vote.

William Skepnek,

Lawrence