Two conservative Kansas lawmakers sue Republican leadership over convention of the states

Two conservative Republican legislators are suing their own GOP leadership in federal court as part of an effort to call a convention of the states to amend the U.S. Constitution.

Sen. Mike Thompson, R-Shawnee, and Rep. Michael Murphy, R-Sylvia, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Topeka last month against Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita.

The lawsuit alleges that Masterson and Hawkins were wrong to say that concurrent resolutions last session didn’t pass because they did not have supermajority support.

“Defendants’ decisions as the presiding officers of each Chamber to reject the passage of these concurrent resolutions pursuant to Article 2 Section 13 of the Kansas Constitution were incorrect as a matter of law,” the lawsuit alleges. “Accordingly, these concurrent resolutions should be declared to have passed both Chambers by majority votes and thereby to have been adopted.”

Kansas Legislature hasn’t been able to get supermajority

Conservative Republicans have tried for the past several years to add Kansas to the backers of a convention of the states to amend the U.S. Constitution. Past efforts have succeeded in getting simple majorities of lawmakers, but the Kansas Constitution requires supermajorities.

“The lawsuit is about resolving a longstanding question about whether the Kansas Constitution can require a higher threshold of votes to adopt measures envisioned by Article V of the United States Constitution, including the Convention of States,” said Mike Pirner, a spokesperson for Masterson.

A spokesperson for Hawkins didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The vote on last session’s House resolution was 74-48, or 10 yes votes short of two-thirds, while the Senate’s vote was 22-16, or five yes votes shy of a supermajority.

“This super-majority requirement violates the federal Constitution,” Thompson and Murphy allege in their lawsuit.

“When state legislatures act pursuant to their authority under Article V, they exercise a federal function from federal law,” the lawsuit states. “States cannot, whether through their constitutions or state law, impose limitations or additional procedural requirements on state legislatures acting pursuant to this federal authority.”

Ty Masterson and Dan Hawkins expected to be represented by AG

Thompson and Murphy are being represented by the law firm Graves Garrett and are seeking “declaratory judgments that Article 2 Section 13 of the Kansas Constitution is unconstitutional,” thus resulting in the resolutions having passed last session.

The civil cover sheet indicates that Thompson and Murphy expect Masterson and Hawkins to be represented by the Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach’s office.

The Kansas resolutions had called for amending the U.S. Constitution to “impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government and limit the terms of office for officials of the federal government and members of Congress.”

Some conservatives have opposed such efforts, raising fears that it could backfire politically with liberals advancing their own preferred amendments.

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.