Kansas Speaker Merrick Passes on ‘State of Judiciary’ Speech

Ks. House Speaker Ray Merrick

KC Star:

Kansas Chief Justice Lawton Nuss won’t address the Legislature next year, leading a top Democrat to think it’s another sign of a growing rift between conservative lawmakers and the courts.
Incoming Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick has turned down a request from the state’s chief justice to address a joint session of the Legislature to present the State of the Judiciary report.
Merrick, a Johnson County Republican, asked Nuss to put the report in writing so it could be considered during the session.
“It’s just another thing to take up time,” Merrick said. “I just think it’s time that could be put to better use on other things.”
However, state Rep. Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat and House minority leader, thinks it’s a sign of increasing antipathy between conservative Republican lawmakers and the state courts, which on some occasions have been criticized for being too liberal.
“Many right-wing Republicans don’t view the judiciary as a co-equal branch of government,” Davis said. “It doesn’t surprise me that the incoming legislative leadership has decided not to let them be heard.”

Read more here: http://midwestdemocracy.com/articles/kansas-house-leader-turns-down-chief-justices-request-to-address-legislature/#storylink=cpy