Conflict emerges from feuding by Kelly and Kobach on Trump administration edicts
TOPEKA — A divided Kansas Supreme Court issued a narrow decision Friday resulting in dismissal of Gov. Laura Kelly’s petition alleging Attorney General Kris Kobach interfered with her constitutional authority to engage in litigation on behalf of the state.
The dispute began as a clash between the Democratic governor and Republican attorney general on the federal government’s demand for Kansas’ compliance with requests for information on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients. Kelly joined legal action challenging directives from the administration of President Donald Trump, while Kobach asserted the governor was overstepping her authority to involve the state in lawsuits.
In written briefs and oral argument before the Supreme Court, Justice Caleb Stegall said in the majority opinion, both sides made concessions reducing the breadth of questions before the Supreme Court. He said the legal issues morphed from “important and far-reaching constitutional claims requiring prompt resolution into claims that simply do not support” exercise of the appellate court’s jurisdiction to settle a “quo warranto” standoff about usurpation of public office.
“Today’s decision is a narrow one and plows no new legal ground,” wrote Stegall, an appointee of GOP Gov. Sam Brownback. “The parties do not present to us any disagreement we are equipped to resolve through the extraordinary mechanism of a quo warranto action.”
He said Kelly’s petition was dismissed because of apparent agreement of Kelly and Kobach on their respective legal boundaries. He said the two parties didn’t dispute the governor was empowered to litigate on behalf of her interests as governor and those of executive branch agencies under her jurisdiction. And, they agreed the attorney general was the constitutional officer charged with responsibility to represent the state if the real party of interest in litigation was Kansas.
“Given all this,” Stegall wrote, “there is nothing left for us to decide and, apart from political posturing by both parties, the issues presented no longer implicate a matter of significant public importance and instead consist of a political, legal or semantic dispute we will not referee.”
Justice Larkin Walsh, appointed this year by Kelly, and Chief Justice Eric Rosen, placed on the bench by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, offered a separate concurring opinion. Justice Melissa Taylor Standridge, another Kelly appointee, authored a dissent joined by Justice Dan Biles, also an appointee of Sebelius.
Kelly issued a statement in response to the Supreme Court ruling that said the outcome affirmed her authority to protect Kansas from unlawful federal overreach.
“The court’s majority opinion recognizes that the office of the governor indeed does have an independent voice in litigation regarding matters that impact the executive branch and state agencies overseen by the governor,” she said. “This opinion acknowledges that the attorney general conceded his blatant partisanship cannot undermine my administration’s efforts to protect and stand up for Kansans.”
Kelly pointed to text of the majority opinion that said Kobach made “crucial concessions at oral argument that make clear he does not contest the governor’s constitutional authority to represent the legal interests of her office or of the executive agencies she oversees.”
The governor said that if Kobach continued to “refuse to stand up for the state, Kansans can be assured that I will.”
Kobach’s statement indicated he interpreted the Supreme Court’s majority opinion as a “clear victory in the case for the Kansas attorney general’s office.”
“The Kansas Supreme Court dismissed the governor’s lawsuit because she conceded what we already knew,” Kobach said. “Only the attorney general can represent the interests of the state of Kansas in court as the state’s chief legal officer. Although the governor originally tried to challenge this point, she eventually abandoned her position because it was unsustainable.”
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
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