Government

Kansas Secretary Of State Looking To Add 'Contempt' To List Of Accomplishments

Courts have the power to jail people to coerce them to follow the law... it might be time for that.

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Kris Kobach

Kris Kobach’s misadventures in the law continue. The dullard whose bungling attempt to strip minorities of voting rights through intimidation and bureaucratic obstacles ended with a scathing rebuke from a George W. Bush appointee and court-mandated CLE courses has decided to double-down on his legal malfeasance.

Faced with a Judge Robinson’s opinion rejecting his position as egregiously unconstitutional, the Kansas Secretary of State’s office is informing county clerks “to continue requiring voters to present documentary proof of citizenship.” In a world where we often talk about the rule of law as under attack, this is a particularly brazen assault.

But Kobach’s office has not yet reached the “let John Marshall enforce it” level of flagrant disregard for constitution norms yet. Rather than outright refuse to respect a federal court, they’ve concocted a reason for this shocking course of action and it’s a doozy:

Danedri Herbert, a spokeswoman for Kobach, told the news outlet that state officials still need time to fully understand the court’s ruling on the law. She argued that the judge did not provide a clear timeline for when Kobach had to instruct county clerks to implement the policy.

“I think ‘immediately’ is kind of open to interpretation,” she told the Capital-Journal.

This requires the great Ron Howard:

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For every jab that Bill Clinton, deservedly, got over “it depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is,” at least he was right in a hyper-technical, slimy lawyer way. There’s nothing ambiguous about “immediately.” There’s even less ambiguous about “immediately” when it comes in the form of a 118-page opinion that excoriates your office for ripping up the Constitution and then trying to undermine the basic rules of trial procedure in an effort to get away with it. Judge Robinson means stop now. She means stop yesterday if you could build a time machine.

And to the county clerks, she means you’re about to violate your duties if you listen to Kobach’s office.

Earlier this week, we were laughing about the prospect of Kobach sitting through six hours of CLE. By next week, we might be laughing about him sitting in a jail cell. It’s not going to happen — he’s running for governor and Judge Robinson probably won’t want to turn her courtroom into a lightning rod in the election, but she should do it. This is literally why we have “contempt of court” — he’s even been slapped with it before during this case, though not jailed for it — and it’s abundantly clear that Kobach needs some coercion to follow the law.

And CLE credits just aren’t cutting it.

Kansas officials told to keep enforcing voter ID law that was ruled unconstitutional [The Hill]

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Earlier: Horrible Lawyer Ordered To Brush Up On CLE That He Probably Won’t Watch Anyway
Kris Kobach And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Trial
Kris Kobach Self Owns In Court Filing

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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