News

Mike Thompson Explanation of Vote Opposing Carl Folsom for Kansas Court of Appeals

On June 3, the Kansas Senate rejected the nomination of Carl Folsom to the Kansas Court of Appeals. Senator Thompson voted No on the nomination and delivered the following Explanation of Vote:

"No one in the Judiciary committee hearing on the nomination of Mr. Folsom was, in my opinion, attempting to characterize or equate him with the criminals he was tasked to defend as was suggested by the Senator from Shawnee, Senator Miller. Mr. Folsom was doing the job he was assigned and performed it to the best of his abilities.

My concern is over his lack of breadth and depth of experience. He admittedly lacks the civil and prosecutorial experience that would be instructive to his decisions at the appellate level. This (the appellate court) is not the place for on the job training. Bad decisions can have long term consequences for persons coming before the court.

In addition, I am concerned about his decision making process with regard to the "rule book"...the constitution, which, in my opinion should be the ultimate guide for all court decisions. Otherwise, the law becomes a moving target, subject to the whims of the jurist...rather than the text of the constitution.

For the above stated reasons, I vote no."
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