Congratulations to those of you who marched lock-step with the out-of-state billionaire-led campaign to keep out-of-state billionaires from influencing Kansas Supreme Court Justice elections.
Very savvy of you.
The billionaires and national special interests the opposition warned about were not waiting outside Kansas for judicial elections to begin. They were already here—financing the campaign that told Kansans to keep control of the court safely out of the hands of Kansas voters.
And like sightless lemmings, that’s exactly what you did.
The existing lawyer-controlled appointment system survives, at least for now. So does the Kansas Supreme Court’s self-created constitutional protection for killing fetuses; the move that spawned Kansas’ now burgeoning abortion tourism industry. That second outcome was the real prize for the amendment’s opposition.
The “No” campaign talked about judicial independence, school funding, workers’ rights and impartial courts. But those issues were supporting actors. The star of the show was abortion—the deliberate destruction of unborn human life—and preserving a Supreme Court that has repeatedly protected this barbarity from restrictions adopted by elected Kansas lawmakers.
The opposition didn’t exactly hide this priority. Kansas United for Impartial Courts prominently promoted national coverage describing the amendment’s “target” as abortion. Its own newsroom highlighted a program titled, “Billionaires are Buying STATE Supreme Courts to Ban Abortion,” featuring ACLU of Kansas Executive Director Micah Kubic and Planned Parenthood Great Plains President Emily Wales.
The reason is simple: Even as the U.S. Supreme Court reconsidered its baseless 1973 Roe v. Wade decision to allow states to rightfully determine their own course, The Kansas Supreme Court has become the most powerful protector of fetal murder in the Sunflower State.
In its 2019 Hodes & Nauser decision, the court fantasized into reality a “fundamental right” to abortion in the Kansas Constitution’s guarantees of personal autonomy. Nowhere is that barbarity written in the state Constitution. Nevertheless, the court subjected abortion restrictions to “strict scrutiny,” the most demanding legal standard available.
In 2024, the court reaffirmed that doctrine and struck down a Kansas law prohibiting the most common second-trimester abortion procedure. It also invalidated stricter licensing requirements for abortion providers.
That is why Planned Parenthood cared so much about how Kansas selects its justices. Abortion is Planned Parenthood’s bread and butter. That’s why the ACLU cared as well, and why national progressive organizations poured millions into what they portrayed as a good-government campaign about judicial procedure.
Kansas United for Impartial Courts reported raising more than $7.6 million through July 20. ACLU organizations supplied approximately $2.1 million in cash, while Planned Parenthood organizations contributed another $1.45 million.
They got their money’s worth. Kansans swallowed that out-of-state billionaire bait hook, line and sinker. More than that, there’s something unhealthy and eerily antithetical about a population that willingly gives up its right to make a free choice regarding the power of its government.
It’s not just blind stupidity; it’s voluntary vulnerability.
