Kansas voters will decide in August whether to elect Supreme Court justices, a change that could impact issues like abortion and school funding. The current system, which has been in place since the 1950s, uses a merit-based system where a panel screens candidates.

Background

The push to elect justices is led by conservative lawmakers and business leaders who argue that the change will lead to a needed check on judicial power. However, activists and former justices opposed to the change believe that direct elections will lead to partisan justices who make legal decisions based on campaign donations, not the rule of law.

Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes President and CEO Emily Wales said that the strategy is to restrict abortion through how justices are selected. "This is about banning abortion and restricting rights that Kansans have demanded they keep," she said.

Impact on Abortion and School Funding

Many conservative lawmakers in Kansas have not been happy about court rulings on abortion rights and school funding. Wales said that the August 4 amendment vote is really about putting justices on the Supreme Court that are in line with their political values.

Kansas Association of School Boards Assistant Executive Director of Advocacy and Governmental Relations Leah Fliter said that an elected Supreme Court could undo past rulings determining what is adequate education funding. This includes the lawsuit that eventually resulted in schools receiving an inflationary adjustment in funding.

Education advocates worry that changes to this inflationary adjustment could lead to new lawsuits over education funding. Kansas Republican state Rep. Troy Waymaster said that the state should consider changes to the school finance formula.

Original reporting: Johnson County Post (Overland Park) — read the source article.