Stop the Kobach Power Grab

This legislative session, extremist Senators are pushing a ballot initiative that would politicize the Kansas Supreme Court and open the door for special interest groups to buy their way into the Kansas judiciary. SCR 1611 proposes a constitutional amendment to provide for direct election of Supreme Court Justices and abolishes the current nonpartisan nominating commission.

“The Supreme Court should not be for sale to the highest bidder. If this passes, it will be a radical departure from Kansas’s longstanding commitment to judicial independence.” - Rashane Hamby, Policy Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas.

We cannot allow for the injection of politics into the courts. Switching to partisan elections for Kansas Supreme Court justices will not actually give power to the people; it will give power to those with the most money. When Ohio switched to partisan Supreme Court elections in 2022, hundreds of thousands of dollars from out-of-state special interest groups poured into Ohio to buy their preferred candidate’s success. By amending the state constitution to politicize the Kansas Supreme Court, we further risk encouraging those same practices in our state.

Right now, non-partisan experienced scholars, including retired Kansas Supreme Court justices, who know Kansas and our constitution, help guide judicial appointments. This amendment will replace these merit-based experts with extreme politicians and special interest groups. In replacing experts with politicians, we risk eroding the legitimacy of an allegedly nonpartisan judiciary as well as public trust.

Furthermore, we can also look to the intent of this resolution as an indicator of extremist policies influencing our Kansas politics.

Less than three years ago, Kansans voted to enshrine abortion rights under our Kansas constitution. Now, the extremists backing this amendment are trying to remake the court so they can ignore the will of the people and ban abortion without exceptions in Kansas. Attorney General Kris Kobach himself has made it clear that his efforts to overhaul the court are in retaliation to the 2022 decision on abortion, stating the makeup of the court makes it “very difficult” for him to win cases and advance his preferred policies.

We must protect the rights of all Kansans to make personal decisions without the influence of Kris Kobach and his extremist allies.

We cannot allow this Kobach power grab to happen. The fate of our reproductive and civil rights depends on it. Take action on SCR 1611 by clicking here or by visiting our 2025 Legislative Resource Hub and clicking the take action link. It takes less than 1 minute to contact your legislator and make your voice heard, TODAY.