Attorney general seeks pause after judge ruled statute unconstitutional
by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector
Topeka — The chief of the Kansas Supreme Court issued a stay Tuesday of a district court ruling that declared unconstitutional portions of an emergency management law adopted to recalibrate government authority during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief Justice Marla Luckert released the one-page order in response to a request from Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who planned to appeal the July 15 ruling by a Johnson County District Court judge that Senate Bill 40 was unenforceable. The law was approved this year by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
District Court Judge David Hauber had rejected Schmidt’s request to suspend the district court action. The attorney general’s plea suggested to do otherwise would create “legal anarchy.” The judge, however, said the attorney general raised “fantastical” arguments.
Hauber waded into the controversy after parents in the Shawnee Mission School District filed a lawsuit in opposition to a policy requiring students to wear a face covering as a shield against COVID-19.
The judge found the new version of the Kansas Emergency Management Act conflicted with principles of separation of power among branches of government. In part, the statute moved authority to issue or extend disaster declarations from the governor to a council of state legislators.
Issues raised by the lawsuit and the judge’s decision have taken on new relevance as the delta variant of COVID-19 spread throughout communities in Kansas at the same time K-12 classes resumed.
In the original lawsuit, parents Scott Bozarth and Kristin Butler asserted implementation of a mask mandate could cause “psychological harm.”
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See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2021/08/24/kansas-supreme-court-issues-stay-of-lower-courts-rejection-of-emergency-management-law/