{"id":15404,"date":"2015-06-09T10:06:17","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T17:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=15404"},"modified":"2015-06-09T10:06:17","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T17:06:17","slug":"even-toto-wants-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/09\/even-toto-wants-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Even Toto Wants Out!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time, Dorothy wanted nothing more that to be returned to her home and family in Kansas.  But that was before Sam Brownback and his sidekick Kris Kobach, aka KoBIATCH made Kansas a Republican Reich.  Now Dorothy says, \u201cToto, I\u2019ve a feeling we\u2019re not in Kansas anymore\u201d, and even Toto wants out!<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"0609Kansas\"<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill<\/a> that threatens the entire state’s judiciary with destruction if it rules against a law he favors. Brownback has spent much of his tenure attempting to curb the state supreme court and consolidate power in the executive branch. Thursday’s startling maneuver suggests the deeply conservative governor<\/a> has no compunction about simply obliterating separation of powers when another branch of government gets in his way.<\/p>\n

The Kansas trouble started in 2014, when the state supreme court ruled<\/a> that the disparity between school funding in rich and poor districts violated the state constitution. The justices ordered the legislature to fix the problem. Soon after, the legislature passed an administrative law that stripped the supreme court of its authority to appoint local chief judges and set district court budgets. (Instead, district court judges\u2014who are often quite conservative\u2014were allowed to elect their own chief judge.)<\/p>\n

Arriving shortly after the school funding ruling, this law was widely seen as a retaliation against the court\u2014and a warning. In their first ruling, the justices stopped short<\/a> of declaring that the school system as a whole was constitutionally underfunded. But the court acknowledged that it would one day answer that question. And if the justices mandate more school funding, the legislature will have to raise taxes, a step few legislators are eager to take. <\/p>\n

The administrative law, then, was likely an effort to scare the court out of issuing a dramatic ruling in favor of greater school funding… <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <Slate<\/a>><\/p>\n

Rachel Maddow<\/a> has this story and discusses the new powers he gave to Kris KoBIATCH with Dave Helling.<\/font><\/p>\n