Frustrated With The Kansas Supreme Court That Struck Down The State Education Budget, Legislators Try To Expand The Grounds For Impeachment

We have been following the Kansas Supreme Court's repeated rejections of the state's education funding scheme here, here, and here over the last year. This week, a committee in the Kansas Senate is considering a bill that would make "attempting to usurp the power of the legislative or executive branch of government" grounds for impeachment. The bill was prompted by the court's rulings declaring that the state education budget an unconstitutional denial of the right to an education and other rulings that have antagonized the Republican-led legislature (four of the current justices were appointed by Democrat governors). The legislature has been looking for ways to limit the court's power but has found getting rid of the justices difficult. Kansas' supreme court judges only face retention elections every six years and can be voted out only if more than fifty percent of the electorate vote against them. Currently, justices can only be impeached for treason or serious misbehavior. Read more on this story at SFGate here.