TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly took an extraordinary step Friday by filing a lawsuit directly with the Kansas Supreme Court alleging Attorney General Kris Kobach was undermining constitutional powers assigned to the state’s governor.
Kelly, a two-term Democrat, said the lawsuit was necessary because the GOP attorney general took the position that he alone determined interests of Kansas when it came to litigation in federal and state courts. The governor said Kobach had failed to defend Kansans against “unlawful” federal overreaches by President Donald Trump.
“Time and again, Attorney General Kobach’s blatant partisanship is on display, harming and embarrassing Kansas,” she said. “While he was quick to sue the previous presidential administration, alleging he would protect Kansans from federal overreach, he has not once followed through on that claim now that the Trump administration has repeatedly done just that.”
Kobach, who filed or joined numerous lawsuits against the administration of President Joe Biden, said Kelly chose Halloween to take unprecedented action to seize control of the state’s litigation agenda. He expressed confidence Kelly wouldn’t prevail in court.
“This is not a close question. Gov. Kelly is wasting the court’s time,” Kobach said. “If the governor wants to run for the office of attorney general, she has the right to do so. But she will need to go to law school first.”
He said Kansas law was “crystal clear regarding who represents the state of Kansas in court and controls what legal positions are taken by the state of Kansas.”
Kelly’s lawsuit requested the state Supreme Court issue an order preventing the attorney general from intruding on a governor’s “supreme executive” power as head of the executive branch. She said the Kansas Constitution should be relied upon by the court to affirm a Kansas governor’s authority to take steps in defense of Kansans without interference from the attorney general’s office.
Kelly said Kobach’s “willful ignorance undermined” her administration’s effort to shield Kansans from harm and protect millions of dollars for essential programs and services.
“If the attorney general refuses to stand up for Kansas, at least Kansans can rest assured knowing that I will,” Kelly said in a statement.
During a news conference, Kelly said she was disturbed Kobach declined to participate in two lawsuits that she felt had merit.
“I value the role of the attorney general. Ordinarily, the attorney general is the one who would be filing suits on behalf of the citizens, but in in this case, that’s not happening, and so I’m stepping up to make sure that Kansas interests are represented,” she said.
One of the lawsuits supported by Kelly was filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture to seek release of congressionally approved emergency funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP provides food aid to nearly 188,000 adults and children in Kansans.
Meanwhile, the governor joined — despite Kobach’s opposition — a lawsuit seeking to prevent the Trump administration from terminating federal funding to a collection of public health and safety programs. The list of programs included financing to test for lead in schools and child care facilities, environmental cleanup, evaluating the safety of dams and improvements to drinking water.
Kobach, who lost a campaign for governor against Kelly in 2018, has declared he had authority over what litigation the state of Kansas initiated.
In September, a Shawnee County District Court judge threw out a lawsuit filed by Kobach challenging Kelly’s decision to withhold from the Trump administration personal data on thousands of Kansans regarding SNAP. So far, the Kelly administration has refused to comply with federal demands for information on people who applied for or used SNAP in Kansas.
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.
