This morning, in a session starting.. well, right now.. the Kansas Supreme Court will listen to 20 minutes of arguments from both sides in order to find out what happens with Chad Taylor.
http://live.kscourts.org/...
If you're interested in this outcome, this is a heck of a case to watch.
I have my popcorn out.
7:29 AM PT: I noted earlier that the withdraw of Miranda Rickel's letter would be important.. and that is what they are debating this morning her withdraw.
7:31 AM PT: The Debate is now over whether or not the secretary of state is entitled to discretion in enforcing the law, and if that is the past standard that was used in past elections.
7:33 AM PT: SoS makes a huge concession: "We aren't going to verify the veracity of their claim as to why they drop out, we just have to have one."
7:38 AM PT: The court is not buying the SoS's argument.. both sides are given 20 minutes, so we are going to wrap up soon.. we may have a ruling pretty quickly.. but the way this is going Chad Taylor is coming off of the ballot.
7:41 AM PT: SoS is now saying that the lack of an acknowledgement on the Miranda Rickel letter puts a hole in their argument; and that Rickel was let off the ballot at the discretion of the SoS, and they shouldn't have let her off.. but they did, and they aren't going to make that mistake with Chad Taylor .. and now we are talking uneven enforcement of the law..
7:46 AM PT: KS Supreme Court notes that many of the letters were received without meeting with the acknowledgement requirement, of being received in person - and a difference of someone signing the document within the office.
7:47 AM PT: Key Debate now is that by showing up in person as a matter of acknowledgement in itself provides the declaration of purpose, whereas most others did not show up and therefore could not be queried. The fact that the SoS did not query may be all that is relative.. and if the candidate is held to the fire on different grounds of the statute then he has discretion over all.
7:57 AM PT: The court is now asking: if we rule that the letter meets the standard, and he is to be removed, the SoS should have no discretion to countermand the order of this court.
8:03 AM PT: We're in rebuttal now. The court is letting the rebuttal go without many interuptions.. or really any at all.
8:04 AM PT: Court session is over. There is expectation of a verdict -TODAY-. In fact, there is some expectation we may see an outcome by noon CDT
1:18 PM PT: A review of the happenings:
http://cjonline.com/...