In some ways, when the Kansas Supreme Court held its first-ever road trip special session in Great Bend Wednesday, it served as a real-world civics lesson, said the court’s Chief Justice Marla Luckert.

“The court is described as the least understood branch of government,” she said in an interview with the Great Bend Tribune Wednesday afternoon. “We want to give people the chance to see Kansas government in action.”

The Kansas Supreme Court conducted the visit as part of its ongoing outreach to familiarize Kansans with the high court, its work, and the overall role of the Kansas judiciary, Luckert said.

The day included the justices visiting area judicial district offices. They also visited high schools in Great Bend, Hoisington, Claflin, Ellinwood and Larned, and Barton Community College, reaching about 775 students. It concluded with the court hearing two appeals cases that evening in the B-29 Superfortress Ballroom at the Great Bend Events Center.

Longtime Barton County attorney Thomas Berscheidt served as honorary bailiff.

“People don’t understand how it works,” Luckert said. The Supreme Court only rules on cases brought to it from the District Court or Court of Appeals.

“I have yet to see an appellate court in a TV show or movie,” she said. They don’t attract the “dramatized” cases one might see in other courtrooms.

Luckert said people generally understand the trial process because they may have been in a local courtroom as a juror or witness, or they may know someone who has been in court. But fewer people have seen an appellate court in action. 

This is important, she said, noting a recent Pew Research Center poll indicated that only 50% of Americans could name the three branches of government. That is up from around 30% in the previous poll, but “that’s sad.”

As background, the courts join the legislative and executive branches. Each has its own role to play to keep checks and balances on the others.

“Judges aren’t politicians, we don’t decide policy,” Luckert said. They just interpret the laws based on the Kansas or U.S. Constitution, and case precedent.

In fact, she said, some of their rulings they may not like personally, but are in keeping with legal standards.

And, they base their rulings solely on the information presented and on their deliberations.

“We don’t look to popular opinion,” she said. “We don’t take polls.”

“We are also called the least powerful branch,” she said. There have been many instances of a legislative body amending a law to skirt an unfavorable court ruling.

Wednesday’s cases

“We will be hearing two cases,” she said. “These are real cases that are before us.”

The first is a criminal appeal in a Sedgwick County first-degree murder case. A jury convicted Rachael Hilyard of first-degree murder in the decapitation death of her boyfriend’s grandmother. The district court sentenced Hilyard to a “Hard 50” life sentence. 

Hilyard challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support her conviction and raises other challenges to her conviction and sentence.

The second is a civil case involving Mark A. Bruce, who sued the state contending that when his tenure as superintendent of the Kansas Highway Patrol was terminated, he was forced to retire, which amounted to a constructive discharge from employment.

“We have to stay in our lane,” Luckert said, stressing they stick to what is presented to them.

“The district courts are the fact finders. We just look for errors of law,” she said. “We give great weight to what the district courts found.”

The Bruce case is actually a federal case, but there are a couple of items related to state law the Kansas court must decide.

The matters before the court Wednesday are good examples of the diversity of cases heard by the high court. “Our docket is a wide spectrum.”

COVID-19’s effect

Since 2012, the Supreme Court has broadcast its oral arguments.

“Our court was one of the pioneer courts in the country,” Luckert said.

So, when COVID hit, they were somewhat prepared.

“We, like other courts in Kansas, pivoted very rapidly to using the remote technology platform,” she said. When there were just whispers of the pandemic, their IT department was making preparations.

Again, the response set standards for courts in other states.

Now, after two years, many lessons were learned. Key was the popularity of remote hearings and other court proceedings, she said.

Although they returned to convening in person, “we’re continuing to use the remote technology,” she said. “We’ve had no push-back from attorneys.”

And, this has reduced the cost for litigation, making it more affordable. “It has increased access to the courts,” Luckert said.

“We’ll try to make sure we find the right balance between how to keep that access, but also how to make sure that we aren’t compromising procedural fairness for the parties,” she said.

As far a dockets go, “there was a huge drop in case filings early in the pandemic,” she said. “But they are bounding back to pre-pandemic levels.”

She did note that all of their oral arguments are open to the public, even when they meet at the Kansas Judicial Center in Topeka.

About Justice Lukert

Luckert is a fourth-generation native of Sherman County, Kansas. After growing up on the western Kansas border and graduating from Goodland High School, she moved to Topeka for college and law school and has spent her professional career in the Capitol City. 

Justice Luckert has served the public as a judge and justice for nearly 30 years, handling thousands of cases.

She has served as a Kansas Supreme Court justice since 2003 and as chief justice since 2019.

Justice Luckert and her husband of 40 years have three children and two grandchildren. 

Background

The event marked the court’s first visit to Great Bend in the court’s 161-year history, and it was the 12th time the court will hear cases in the evening. 

The Supreme Court has conducted special sessions outside its Topeka courtroom since 2011, when it marked the state’s 150th anniversary by convening in the historic Supreme Court courtroom in the Kansas Statehouse. From there, and through the end of 2011, the court conducted special sessions in Greensburg, Salina, and Wichita. Since then, the court has had sessions in Colby, El Dorado, Emporia, Garden City, Hays, Hiawatha, Hutchinson, Kansas City, Lawrence, Manhattan, Overland Park, Pittsburg, Topeka and Winfield.

The court started conducting evening sessions when it visited Hays in April 2015. That event drew a crowd of nearly 700 people. A special evening session in Lawrence in 2019 drew about 800 people.

Luckert said they try to get out on the road about twice a year. 

The state is made up of 31 judicial districts that take in from one to seven counties. Barton County falls in the 20th Judicial District, along with Ellsworth, Rice, Russell and Stafford counties.

Also participating Wednesday were officials from the Larned-based 24th Judicial District.