This year has seen a lot of changes being made to the court system, but the biggest changes are yet to come.
2020 has been a big year for the courts so far. COVID-19 changed the court system indefinitely—the courts shut down for weeks and although many are open and operating, they have a backlog of cases to work through and their day-to-day operations are more regulated and stricter. There are less people in the courts, less cases being worked on, and overall the courts have slowed down tremendously over the past few months.
These changes are just the beginning. 2020 also happens to be an election year. The primary election held on August 4th saw some major changes in Kansas. Representative Roger Marshall overthrew former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach for the Republican nominee for the open Senate seat in the upcoming general election. Marshall will face off against Democratic nominee State Senator Bollier on November 3rd, but the final result is still unclear.
This year’s elections will have an even bigger effect on the court system than you may realize. Elections have always impacted the court system across various levels through the appointment and election of judges. Several district courts in Kansas use partisan elections to choose judges, and state courts use a gubernatorial appointment method. In the Supreme Court of Kansas, there’s not only a nomination board to help select justices, but there’s also a retention election after a justice’s first year of service.
Even on federal levels, justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. In previous years, this hasn’t mattered too much to voters, but this is the key element to the 2020 election that will impact the court system drastically. Registered voters indicate that Supreme Court appointments are one of the top issues for them, with only the economy and healthcare being ranked more important. Here’s the reason why Supreme Court appointments are more important now than ever before: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an associate justice currently serving on the U.S Supreme Court, is getting old and her health isn’t in the best condition. It is widely believed that she cannot serve on the Supreme Court another 4 years, and thus the next U.S. President will be nominating a replacement, and the Senate will be confirming the next justice of the Supreme Court.
The problem is, our current Supreme Court justices are fairly divided between “left” and “right”. The partisanship is in balance, with Ginsburg herself being one of the more left-leaning justices. However, with Ginsburg’s impending retirement and with our current president being a Republican and the Senate being a Republican majority, it is likely that if these two things stay the same (i.e. President Trump is reelected and the Senate remains controlled by the GOP), the next Supreme Court justice will most likely be right-leaning, throwing off the precarious balance of the Supreme Court.
Balance and impartiality are important in the Supreme Court because they are the highest-of-the-high. They are seen as a last-resort court, and their rulings cannot be appealed. Their rulings often serve as the precedent in other courts on lower levels, too, such as state courts, Circuit Courts, or Courts of Appeals. If the balance of partisanship is thrown off, it will change proceedings in the courts nationwide.
While 2020 has already shaken up the court system with COVID-19, shutdowns, and more, the changes are far from over. The general election will be pivotal to the U.S. court system. We will keep you updated about any more major changes within the court system that may impact or affect your case.
