Seeking to regain his law license, former Kansas AG files federal civil rights suit
Back when former Kansas attorney general Phill Kline was defending a legal ethics case over his handling of abortion-related matters, he sought and got the recusal of several justices on the state’s top court.
But in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed Sunday, the former AG is now challenging the validity of the Kansas Supreme Court’s 2013 decision to suspend his law license, contending that it lacked the power to do so because too many justices had recused themselves, the Topeka Capital-Journal reports.
The suit alleges the entire attorney disciplinary process was instigated by Kline’s political and legal opponents, violated Kline’s due process rights under the U.S. Constitution and was “arbitrary and lawless from beginning to end,” the Kansas City Star reports.
At issue concerning the state supreme court’s power to decide the case is a state constitutional requirement that the court must hear cases “with not fewer than four justices sitting,” the Capital-Journal reports. Because five of the court’s seven justices recused themselves in Kline’s ethics case, the gap was filled by appointing state trial and appellate court judges, the newspaper explains.
“By sitting, voting and entering a decision/judgment in Kline’s case in violation of the unambiguous ‘four justice’ requirement of the Kansas Constitution, the members of the post-recusal court acted without jurisdiction, without the power of the Kansas Supreme Court, and its decision/judgment was void,” the complaint says.
Kline is seeking a declaratory judgment nullifying the state supreme court’s decision to suspend his law license.
“This Kline saga has been a complete miscarriage of justice and an embarrassment to the Kansas judicial system,” said one of his lawyers, Thomas Condit, in a written statement provided to the Star.
The supreme court declined to comment specifically on the case. “As we have not been served with a copy of the complaint and therefore have not had a chance to review the document, the court is unable to comment,” it said in a written statement provided by a spokesman.
Kline has been teaching law at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., a position that does not require a law license.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Former Kansas AG Phill Kline is suspended from law practice for at least 3 years”
