Process worked for court pick
Conservatives critical of the process used to select Oklahoma's appellate court judges shouldn't have much to gripe about regarding the newest member of the state Supreme Court.
Gov. Kevin Stitt this week named M. John Kane IV, 57, of Pawhuska, to replace retired Justice John Reif.
Kane, a district judge in Osage County since 2005, is a registered Republican and a Roman Catholic. The bishop for the Diocese of Tulsa wrote to Stitt endorsing Kane as “an advocate for the dignity of the person in his attention to pro-life work.” The head of Oklahomans for Life also supported Kane's bid.
In private practice, Kane tried domestic and civil cases and drafted contracts and wills. As a district judge, he was assigned all the civil cases and half of the felony cases.
Kane's great-grandfather helped write the state constitution, and Kane says he will serve “as a defender of this treasured deposit of wisdom.”
Kane was one of three candidates the 15-member Judicial Nominating Commission presented to Stitt for consideration. Criticism of the JNC and efforts to change the selection process have stemmed from state Supreme Court rulings that conservative lawmakers haven't liked. But the process seems to have worked well in this case and we expect it will again in filling a second vacancy on the state's highest court.
Judge's excuses not good enough
This week, the state's multicounty grand jury indicted Oklahoma County District Judge Kendra Coleman for failing to file her 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 state income
tax returns on time. They're misdemeanors, and Coleman did eventually file all four returns. But perhaps this move will get Coleman's attention. The Oklahoman's Nolan Clay previously reported that Coleman had been assessed more than $100,000 by the IRS and Oklahoma Tax Commission for overdue income taxes, penalties and interest, and that she owed more than $1,100 in late business taxes and $400-plus in overdue parking fines (the latter have since been paid). “It's life. These things happen,” Coleman told Clay. Wrong. Failing to file tax returns and piling up parking tickets doesn't just happen. Coleman is a district judge, and as such needs to follow the law just as she expects those in her court to do.
Encouraging approach from House member
There are 135 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives who have said they support impeaching President Trump. The lone Democrat in Oklahoma's congressional delegation, 5th District Rep. Kendra Horn, is not among them. To her credit, Horn says her colleagues should be directing their efforts elsewhere. “I think we've been having the wrong conversations around this,” Horn told
The Oklahoman's Chris Casteel. “And I think many of us aren't focused on this. I certainly am not. I think we have to do the business of governing.” She's right about that. It was disappointing to see Horn vote last week for House bills to ban drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. However, her unwillingness to join so many in her caucus who are looking to impeach Trump is encouraging.
Impeachment talk of another sort
Some national Democrats have a new target for impeachment — Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. After a New York Times article last weekend included a new allegation that Kavanaugh had exposed himself to a woman while at Yale, Sens. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and other presidential candidates called for the justice's impeachment. The Times soon came under heavy criticism from conservatives and liberals alike because the original story didn't mention that the woman had refused to be interviewed, and that friends of the woman said she didn't recall the incident. The newspaper published an editor's note to acknowledge the error. Yet the politicians who used the Times' story as ammo to insist on impeachment didn't revise their demands afterward. It's evidence that some progressives haven't gotten past Kavanaugh's appointment, and never will.