For those who had any remaining doubts, Kansas has officially gone insane

[MiniMe]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/9/1498693/-For-Those-Who-Had-Any-Doubts-Kansas-Has-Officially-Gone-Insane

For those who had any remaining doubts, Kansas has officially gone insane, with its Republican dominated legislature now trying to pass a law effectively nullifying the state’s Judiciary system:

A committee in the GOP-controlled Senate plans to vote Tuesday on a bill that would make "attempting to usurp the power" of the Legislature or the executive branch grounds for impeachment.

Impeachment has "been a little-used tool" to challenge judges who strike down new legislation, said Republican Sen. Dennis Pyle, a sponsor of the measure. "Maybe it needs to be oiled up a little bit or sharpened a little bit."
Senate Bill 439 is currently set for debate before the state’s GOP-stacked Judiciary Committee. If it is approved and signed by Governor Brownback, it will permit impeachment of any Judge who acts contrary to the wishes of the legislature. In other words, any Judge who strikes down or modifies any law the legislature passes, for any reason-- whether the law is blatantly Unconstitutional, violative of existing laws, or otherwise, is thereby subject to impeachment proceedings by the state Legislature. A previous law threatening to cut off all Judicial funding was declared unconstitutional by the state’s High Court.
The state has been trapped in an economic death grip since Governor Sam Brownback and a feckless cadre of rabidly “conservative” Republican lawmakers controlling a supermajority in both of the state’s legislative chambers instituted unprecedented, radical tax cuts to benefit the richest people in the state, while just as radically gutting public services to the state’s citizens, most notably in education:
Parent-enraging anecdotes abounded in schools across the state: tales of swelling classroom sizes, teachers forced to fill in for laid-off janitors and nurses, libraries unable to buy new books. One group of parents took the extraordinary step of suing the government, a lawsuit Brownback appealed all the way to the Kansas Supreme Court after a lower court described his actions as "destructive of our children's future." In March [of 2014], the Supreme Court ruled the cuts unconstitutional.

snip more at the link

[Dustlawyer]

1. Good, I hope they piss off the Republican justices and judges!

They will overturn everything!

[riversedge]

2. No way this is legal. No way.

[sangfroid]

18. Of course it's not legal

Anymore than the myriad of anti-choice regulations the Repuks keep coming up with are legal. It's just that it takes sometimes up to five years for a case to make it to SCOTUS, and during that time the "illegal" legislation is enforced, no matter how illegal, stupid or inane it might be.

[tclambert]

43. So if the Kansas Supreme Court strikes down this law, can they be impeached for doing so?

"We are invoking the law you just struck down to impeach you for striking down the law we just invoked!"
"You can't invoke that law! It's illegal. We just ruled it so."
"Then we'll double dog retroactively invoke it! Neener, neener!"

[TomCADem]

22. What do you think Supreme Court Would Do If Congress...

...tried to pass a law that said the same thing? The Court would rule that it is invalid for essentially undercutting the separation of powers inherent within the Constitution.

[jalan48]

44. It would create a Constitutional crisis which would shut down the government.

This is what today's Republican Party is about.

[cheapdate]

41. I can't hardly imagine how this would be "illegal".

I also can't imagine why it would be necessary, either. I'd guess they already have the power to impeach.

[anoNY42]

3. Why even have a Constitution

if you won't allow it to be used to strike down laws that are unconstitutional? I have not read Kansas' constitution, but I bet this new law would be struck down! How ironic would that be?

[AllyCat]

4. Coming soon to Wisconsin, I'm sure.

[LakeArenal]

5. Judges in Wisconsin already in Walker's Pocket

Already enacted a law to force judges to retire at a certain age. Made it retroactive to force out a liberal long standing judge. Then appoints a follower to her position.

[dembotoz]

10. and scummy is still cheering in 4 of july parades

at least in kansas the winters are warmer

[Andy823]

6. Pretty much proves one thing

BOTH parties are NOT the same, no matter what anyone may tell you.

[FSogol]

7. +1 n/t

[Cryptoad]

16. your proposition is a rumor propagated by the GOP

[Downtown Hound]

28. And Ralph Nader and his merry band of Kool-Aid drinkers. n/t

[skepticscott]

30. And the people who think it would be no worse

to put Donald Trump in the White House, with the Republicans in control of Congress than to see Hillary Clinton get elected.

[Augiedog]

8. This is the legislative equivalent of a circular firing squad.

The courts will declare the legislation unconstitutional and the legislature will declare the courts outlaws. In the end, as said elsewhere on DU, in the Karma cafe there are no menus, you will be served what you deserve. The solution to Kansas is to decide it into segments and give them to the surrounding states. No one has ever "liked" Kansas anyway, no on goes there willingly, they are in a hot competition for being a national joke, along with my state (Wisconsin) and Michigan and maybe Texas.

[Jerry442]

11. They're trying to re-create the Somalia Experience here in America. NT

[Else You Are Mad]

31. To be fair...

Somalia is the right wing's vision of paradise: No government regulations, it is a very religious nation & every citizens has a gun or access to guns....

[rpannier]

46. You left out

Regions of the country can secede

[Kelvin Mace]

27. Yes, but I don't see the federal courts siding with Brownback

No way they makes themselves toothless.

[Gothmog]

9. Kansas is indeed insane

[Stonepounder]

12. There seems to be a general psychosis affecting the TeaParty wing of the GOP.

They are so convinced that their way is the right way that anything that goes against their way has to be gotten rid of. That includes pesky little things like the state of US Constitution, the courts, even the voters. No matter the evidence that every single time trickle-down has been tried the economy involved has collapsed. No matter that every time a state has raised taxes on the wealthy and the corporations the economy has boomed. They are like petulant children with their fingers in their ears singing "We can't hear you".

They already passed a bill that effectively said: "If any part of this bill is struck down, that all state courts will be defunded". Not surprisingly, the courts struck down the bill, including the part that defunded the court. Now they are trying to pull a tRump and saying, 'if you don't do it our way YOU'RE FIRED'. Needless to say, the courts are very likely to strike down the bill as well.

The scary thing to contemplate is when the legislature and executive decide they are simply going to ignore the court, since the court actually has no way to enforce its decisions other than through law and custom. What happens when one branch of government decides to simply ignore the dictates of another branch?

[greymattermom]

15. Can they be arrested for anything?

At least the schools will open in the fall. What is actually happening in Kansas is depopulation.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depopulation_of_the_Great_Plains

This trend has been going on for years.

[Odin2005]

38. Political fanaticism and constitutional government cannot coexist.

This is how republics die, the power-hungry whip up a fanatical mob who then proceed to destroy constitutional government.

[world wide wally]

13. But much more importantly to the voters of Kansas, an abortion is almost impossible to get.

They just reelected these assholes two years ago for that reason

[PeoViejo]

14. Just imagine Opus Dei in control of the US

Brownback and his hard-core Opus Dei cadre have done just that to Kansas. Tea Party my ass.

[RAFisher]

17. Does anyone think they will actually have widespread impeachment of judges? That seems truly insane.

I don't know how the Kansas Constitution is written but they could just start impeaching people for no real reason. I just don't know if 2/3 of the Kansas Senate is crazy enough to go alone with that. But that almost seems like were we are going. They impeach judges and then have Chairman Brownback appoint some tea-party dodo in their place.

[barbtries]

19. it is crazy.

republicans got no use for democracy and shit on justice.

[Blue_Tires]

39. +1

[StarzGuy]

20. Arizonee ain't far behind Kans ass

Merica! it's Great!

[forest444]

21. Governor Browncrack is Opus Dei - and their goal is a Torquemada-style theocracy and dictatorship.

Like the kind they had under Franco and the Latin dictatorships in the '70s, when the Opus Dei served as the civilian wing.

[calimary]

23. Frankly, anything with Brownback involved qualifies.

He's just a twisted idiotic apostle of trickle-down and other quackery.

[greymattermom]

32. I met with him in his Senate office once

and he is very weirdly obsessed about sex. Really weird vibes. I was trying to push for increased research in migraine, and my field is sex differences, i.e. why women have more migraine. To me, an intellectual problem, to him SEX SEX SEX

[calimary]

33. Doesn't it seem as though most CONS are weirdly obsessed about sex?

They've been referred to, rather frequently, as bedroom busybodies. I've enjoyed every opportunity to help spread that meme, for years. That IS what they are. True sons and daughters of puritanical thinking.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

24. So, who exactly is acting like a tyrant?

Brownback and the GOP seem to be trying to usurp the Judiciary. If they do, who's going to be left to challenge them? This is messed up IMHO.

[Javaman]

25. the libertarian wet dream state.

the worst part about all of this is, as soon as brownstain is voted out of office, the poor bastard that replaces him has to unfuck everything; will be totally screwed because everything is so fucked.

[Kelvin Mace]

26. Seems prima facia unconstitutional

They pass the law, the state courts rule it unconstitutional the first time they try to use it, and the federal appellate courts uphold. I can't even see the SCOTUS allowing this.

[skepticscott]

29. Let the people of Kansas

have what they voted for, in full measure. If there are really that many butt-fuck stupid people in the state giving such corrupt and tyranical politicians that much power, let them enjoy the consequences.

[CobaltBlue]

34. I think nature has a way of taking care of some of this.

And when people have raged on being damaging for too long…what they cannot overcome is how nature has its way of sweeping it. The passing of time will be a big help to those who still care about the state of Kansas.

[Wisc Progressive]

35. WTF! Since when is KOS a legitimate source of information?!?!?!?!

I mean, wouldn't there be a link to someone that isn't as divisive and who hasn't been flaming people? He's a republican that could not be a big-important person in that party, so he marketed Daily Kos as a dem site.

Agree or disagree with his politics, but many are here specifically to get away from that evil orange site and the pie-fights there for not worshiping kos every post. If I wanted to read kos stuff, I would go to kos, but I choose not to and find it offensive to see it featured here when an original post citing a real source would be more effective.

Sure, I can use ignore lists or whatever, just disappointing to see DU become a promo tool for kos, because his brand of politics is what brought me here and why I didn't join there.

[Odin2005]

36. This is the traditional definition of tyranny.

[ErikJ]

37. Maybe Kansas trying to drive out all under 55 yrs old.

A retirement and tax shelter state.

[Night Watchman]

40. No Doubts Here

Brownbackistan is batshit crazy!

[Jeb Bartlet]

42. How is this constitutional under Kansas's constitution?

is there no separation of powers doctrine in their constitution? How can one branch of state government pass a law undermining the constitutional authority of another branch? Is this what Republicans have devolved into, the return of fascism and authoritarianism? When do they start branding people they don't like and imprisoning dissenters? Are we really going to have to eradicate them like we did the Nazis?

[KrazyinKS]

45. If you think Sam is crazy wait till you read about his brother

Lots of stories on the web about Jim Brownback, this is just one on the Salina Newspaper. There is the Topeka newspaper and the Kansas City star. This guy is a piece of work. I hope the link works, if not it is an easy google search Jim Brownback
http://www.salina.com/news/state/brownback-s-brother/article_87456b5d-e975-5191-9767-4d93696c930f.html

[Liberal_in_LA]

47. k&r