Kansas Law Clerk Reveals Extreme Bias Tweeting Against Phil Kline And Gets Suspended

Topeka, KS – In the prolonged case against former Attorney General Phillip “Phill” Kline, tweets sent by a law clerk for a Kansas Court of Appeals judge have clearly revealed extreme bias. The Court of Appeals law clerk and attorney, Sarah Peterson Herr, tweeted nasty comments against Kline during his day in court. Revelation of those comments, which included name-calling, has resulted in her temporary suspension. She works for Kansas Court of Appeals Judge Christal E. Marquardt.

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This is a serious problem because law clerks do the majority of the research for the judges they work for. In some cases, the clerks may write the preliminary decision for their respective judges. The Kansas Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals are in the same building. The judges and the law clerks know each other and many of the clerks interact with each other. This extreme bias raises the question of whether Kline can ever receive a fair hearing before the Kansas appellate courts. While this clerk’s judge is not directly presiding over the case, she works closely with the other clerks in the office. Five of the Supreme Court judges have been recused from hearing Kline’s case and those slots have been filled by judges from the Kansas Court of Appeals. Herr’s live tweeting inside the courtroom during oral arguments included comments such as, “You can watch that naughty naughty boy, Mr. Kilein (sic), live!” and includes a link. She goes on to say “Why is Phil Klein (sic) smiling? There is nothing to smile about, #.” Other tweets include: “It's over...sorry. I did like how the district court judges didn't speak the entire time. Thanks for kicking out the SC Phil! (sic) Good call!,” and “I’m a little like superman,” she tweeted shortly before the election, “with my @barackobama shirt under my sweater.” Finally she states, “I predict that he will be disbarred for a period not less than 7 years.” Several of Herr’s colleagues responded to her tweets saying “Love Twitter today live tweet of Phil (sic) Kline from @sparklylillife,” and another stated “Yep, @sparklylillife is killing it!” Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel said, “In our country we are innocent before proven guilty, except in the eyes of Sarah Peterson Herr. Lady Justice should not be peeking out from her under her blindfold to tweet disparaging remarks towards one side of the scales. The actions of Herr are reprehensible and undermine the credibility of the legal system.”