Phill Kline Wins Planned Parenthood Abortion Case

Judges decision contains "some of the harshest, most vitriolic language most of us will ever see in a high-court decision."

Kansas City, KS (LifeSiteNews) - While the mainstream media has widely, indeed almost exclusively, reported that Kansas' pro-life Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline lost a major case before the state Supreme Court last week, the court decision reveals that, far from losing, Kline in fact came out victorious against Planned Parenthood on every major point.

The case was brought against Kline by Planned Parenthood (PP) of Kansas, which sought to have Kline return to the attorney general's office all the PP patient records that he had obtained during his term as AG. While serving as Attorney General, Kline had initiated an investigation against PP, bringing 107 criminal charges against the organization for violations including performing illegal late-term abortions and falsifying documents.

When Kline's term as Kansas AG was up, he transferred the medical records to his new office, the office of the Johnson County District Attorney, from which position he has continued his investigation. If Planned Parenthood had succeeded in forcing Kline to return all the records, Kline's case against the abortion giant would have been significantly hampered.

In its decision last week, however, the Supreme Court refused all of Planned Parenthood's requests, including that Kline relinquish all the medical records, that he be found in contempt and fined and that he be forced to pay PP's legal fees.

Despite the fact that many mainstream media outlets are reporting that Kline was ordered to "return" all copies of the medical records to the Kansas attorney general's office, the court decision clearly orders him merely to provide a "copy" of the records - something that Kline says he has already previously done, which renders the court's "sanction" merely redundant.

Justice Carol Beier wrote in her decision, in a key passage that has been ignored in mainstream media reports: "The above analysis leads us to the conclusion that [Planned Parenthood] and the Attorney General are not entitled to the primary relief they seek. We will not force Kline to disgorge 'each and every copy' of the patient records Kline and his subordinates have made 'and any and all other evidence Kline developed and obtained while he was acting as Attorney General that he took with him to Johnson County'."

Despite this fact, the Associated Press' story on the Kline case was erroneously headlined, "Kan. court orders abortion records returned to AG."

In a comment to LifeSiteNews, Kline observed, "I won on every substantive point." The source of the confusion in the mainstream media appears to be the harshly-worded decision, penned by Justice Carol Beier, and the majority's characterization of its decision as a "sanction" against Kline.

In the court decision Beier harshly criticized the district attorney, issuing a lengthy invective against an "obvious and sorry pattern" of "willful disregard" in Kline's behavior, calling him "demonstrably ignorant, evasive, and incomplete" in his written responses, his behavior disrespectful and inexcusable, and his "tactics" transparent. These quotations have received wide play in the mainstream press.

Beier also indulged in the speculatation that in the future "further instances of Kline's improper conduct" could come "to light," and that such hypothetical "further instances" could possibly merit "civil or criminal contempt" or "discipline."

Jennifer Giroux, who was Kline's campaign manager, indicated to LifeSiteNews that this juxtaposition between a favorable ruling and denigrating language is a purposeful tactic by the judge which the mainstream media has been all too willing to go along with. Giroux said that Kline has been before the Kansas Supreme Court numerous times on this issue and "has won on the substantive legal issues" She claims, however, that "Justice Beier wrote the opinion in a way to make it appear that Kline lost - a falsehood parroted by the Kansas media."

Giroux stated that, because of the favourable decision, "Beier went out of her way to create an order for Kline so she could call it a sanction" But then "all she actually ordered him to do was given copies to the Attorney General of what they already have. That is what she then called a sanction."

Critics of Beier's decision include the Court's chief justice, Justice Kay McFarland, who in his dissent chastised Beier and the rest of the court for using the power to sanction merely "to provide a platform from which it can denigrate Kline for actions that it cannot find to have been in violation of any law and to heap scorn upon him for his attitude and behavior that does not rise to the level of contempt."

McFarland's fellow dissenting justice, Justice Robert Davis, concurred, observing, "While I recognize that this court possesses inherent power to impose sanctions in cases falling short of civil or criminal contempt, our exercise of that power must nevertheless be measured by objective standards." The decision to "sanction," suggested Davis, was an arbitrary decision.

Other commentators have also noted the extremely denigrating language in Beier's decision. Denis Boyles of National Review called the decision a "rant" and said that it contains "some of the harshest, most vitriolic language most of us will ever see in a high-court decision."
The future of Kline's case against Planned Parenthood rests with his successor to the office of Johnson County District Attorney, Steve Howe, who defeated Kline in the most recent election for the position.

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Howe, rather than Kline, was supported by prominent pro-life Republican Sam Brownback in his campaign to win the office despite Kline's record of previous public support for Brownback's successful Senate run and Repubican presidential candidate bid. Brownback's support for Howe was even more surprising given that Howe's record has not shown any evidence of priority given to life and family issues.

Howe has not indicated any interest thus far in pursuing the charges against Planned Parenthood, though he has said he will "evaluate all cases" once he assumes office.

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