Two former governors: Party labels belong in elections, not on the Kansas Supreme Court

Two Kansas governors, one from each party, unite to voice skepticism about an effort to change the Kansas Supreme Court. (Getty Images)

Americans’ trust in the judiciary and the justice system is eroding at every level. From the U.S. Supreme Court to state courts across the country, polls show sharply declining public confidence in courts as trustworthy institutions.

The response from many special interest groups and politicians has been to try to politicize these institutions further, and the next front is state supreme courts, starting here in Kansas.

Across the country, there is a growing effort to turn judgeships into elected positions, allowing billionaire political donors to flood judicial races with money and to treat the bench as just another prize to be won in our increasingly polarized society.

We believe this is the wrong solution. And we say this as two former governors of Kansas from different political parties, where the state has used a better model — the gold standard for others to follow — to select the judges who sit on our state’s highest bench.

For years, Kansas has selected supreme court justices through a nonpartisan, merit-based process. A diverse nominating commission — with representatives from every corner of the state — evaluates individuals on their qualifications and recommends three candidates to the governor. The governor then appoints from that list. Once appointed, Justices face periodic statewide retention elections, giving Kansans a vote on who continues to serve on the bench.

Kansas voters created this merit-based system after the “Triple Play” scandal, when a state Supreme Court seat was handed out as a political favor.

The merit-based system works. We have seen it work, because it allowed us to appoint capable, independent justices who served Kansans well. And we have fought for it together. In 2016, well-funded special interest groups launched a coordinated effort to remove nearly every justice standing for retention — not because those justices had failed in their duties, but because they had ruled in ways that powerful outside groups disliked. Back then, we came together to make the case to Kansas voters that this was exactly the kind of political pressure the system was designed to resist. Voters agreed, and the effort failed.

Now many of those same forces are back, better organized and better funded, pushing once again to put billionaires and dark money special interests in control of our Supreme Court. In less than two weeks, Kansans will vote on whether to keep the merit-based system or replace it with partisan judicial elections. We are  confident voters will reject the attempt to overhaul the state’s Supreme Court.

Our courts are not just another institution. They are the last firewall against partisanship and special interest influence in a world increasingly defined by both. When legislatures are gridlocked or controlled by powerful interests, when independent agencies are politicized, when elections themselves are disputed, courts are where Americans go. The courthouse is the place where every Kansan should stand on equal footing with the most powerful interests. That only works if those judges got there on merit, not by money or political loyalty.

In states that do elect their state supreme court justices, hundreds of millions of dollars now pour into judicial elections. Outside groups and individual billionaire donors have made capturing state courts a strategic priority. We should be doing everything we can to shield our courts from that pressure.

This is not a partisan argument. A judiciary that can be bought is dangerous to everyone, regardless of party. When judges owe their seats to donors and party bosses, the rule of law becomes contingent on who holds power.

Every Kansan needs the courts to be the backstop of our political system that produces fair, independent rulings, and every one of us deserves to know that the judge across the bench got there because they were the best qualified, not the best funded.

Kathleen Sebelius served as Governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009 and as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2009 to 2014. Bill Graves served as Governor of Kansas from 1995 to 2003. Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.