Kansas justices retained despite ouster push
Voters in Kansas on Tuesday retained five justices on the state supreme court, despite a push to oust four of them by a victims’ rights group.
The group, Kansas for Justice, said in a statement that it is “disappointed that Kansas voters left bad justices in place,” the Wichita Eagle reports.
The group had targeted the four justices because they voted to vacate the death sentences of five men, including brothers Reginald and Jonathan Carr, who were convicted in a spate of crimes in Wichita that left five people dead. The U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the Carr brothers’ sentences in January.
Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss, who was one of the four justices targeted, issued a statement early Wednesday that said the vote affirms the Kansas tradition of keeping politics out of Supreme Court courtroom. The vote ensures “that the leaders of the judicial branch are shielded from the political winds,” he said. The other justices who had been targeted in the retention election were Marla Luckert, Carol Beier and Dan Biles.
Hat tip to How Appealing.
