After a majority of Kansans rejected a constitutional amendment to remove a state-level right to abortion and voted to retain state Supreme Court justices likely to uphold that precedent, Republican lawmakers against abortion aren’t giving up the fight just yet.
Next year, the state legislature is poised to consider a proposal by state Rep. Brett Fairchild (R) that would broaden the ability to impeach state judges. The bill is similar to a measure introduced in the Senate in 2016, which later fell short in a House committee.
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KANSAS REJECTS AMENDMENT REMOVING RIGHT TO ABORTION FROM STATE CONSTITUTION
The Kansas constitution presently allows the removal of judges when they are convicted of serious crimes such as “treason, bribery, or high crimes and misdemeanors.” Fairchild’s bill would broaden the list to include potential removals in the event there is a “breach of public trust,” attempts to “subvert fundamental laws and introduce arbitrary power,” or “attempting to usurp the power of the legislative or executive branch of government.”
Fairchild explicitly said the bill was inspired in part to counter court rulings in favor of abortion rights, arguing such decisions are wrong.
“That might cause the Supreme Court justices and the other justices to not go quite as far in their rulings,” Fairchild said. “I do believe that the judiciary has gone too far in taking away power from the legislature when it comes to regulating abortion.”
The Kansas Bar Association opposed the previous bill that passed the Senate in 2016.
In response to the proposal, the Kansas City Star editorial board published an op-ed this week saying the measure is “highly foolish, wrong and, dare we say it, probably unconstitutional.”
Fairchild released a statement on social media Wednesday blasting “the Left” for criticizing his bill while lamenting that progressive judicial activists “advocated increasing the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court,” which has a 6-3 conservative majority of justices that overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
“They’ve had no problem attacking the U.S. Supreme Court because they view it as being conservative. Their argument in favor of maintaining the ‘independence of the judiciary’ rings hollow given their attacks on the U.S. Supreme Court,” Fairchild said.
The state lawmaker also released a statement on Tuesday saying he will “stay the course and continue representing the views of the people of my district.”
After 59% of Kansas voters said “no” to the amendment establishing restrictions on abortion in August, the November election saw voters retain the six state high court justices that stood for retention.
Two of the justices signed onto a 2019 opinion that found a state constitutional right to abortion, and voters kept three justices appointed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. A Republican justice who stood for retention also maintained his post following the election.
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The state high court is composed of five Democratic-appointed justices and two Republican-appointed members.
The Washington Examiner contacted the Kansas Republican Party and the state House Majority Leader Daniel Hawkins (R).
