New Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Marla Luckert has withdrawn from giving the annual State of the Judiciary address to the Legislature.
Luckert pulled out of giving the speech in a letter on Monday to House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr. citing litigation over judicial pay.
She said she was compelled by circumstances to withdraw from accepting the speaker’s invitation to make the speech Jan. 15.
The speech was scheduled for early in the afternoon before the governor gave her State of the State address that night.
The letter, obtained by the Sunflower State Journal, cited the lawsuit filed on Friday by the six trial court judges over judicial pay. The litigation was filed directly with the Supreme Court.
The letter also cited provisions of the Kanas Code of Judicial Conduct that bar judges from ex parte communications and judicial statements on pending and impending cases.
Luckert is in a position where she will preside over a lawsuit brought by six trial court judges alleging that the Legislature has insufficiently funded the judicial branch.
The judges, along with an administrative assistant, argue that the Legislature has violated the constitutional separation of powers by chronically underfunding the judicial branch.
The judges contend that the lack of sufficient funding has undercut the judicial branch’s ability to operate as a coequal branch of government.
The judicial branch is now asking the Legislature to approve $17 million in salary increases for fiscal year 2021.
About $7 million of the proposed increases would provide for a 19% salary increase for judges.
The other $10 million requested would go to nonjudges, raising salaries from 1.7% to 17.9%.
Judges received a 2.5% increase in 2018, the first in nine years. They received 2% in 2019 and 2.5% in 2020.
In a separate letter on Dec. 20, the day the lawsuit was filed, Luckert said she “gladly” accepted the speaker’s offer to participate in an occasion where all three branches of government “could come together to celebrate Kansas, it’s people and it’s way of life.”
The State of the Judiciary speech has been an issue in the past, especially with a tense relationship between former Chief Justice Lawton Nuss and Republican leadership in the statehouse.
Former House Speaker Ray Merrick turned down a request from Nuss to address a joint session of the Legislature in 2012 to present the State of the Judiciary report.
Merrick asked Nuss to put the report in writing so it could be considered during the session.
