TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) — Measures in several state legislatures this year have called for new approaches to weaken the power of judges.
One would abandon a centuries-old precedent that courts can decide whether laws are constitutional. Another would change how judges are selected.
Tension between the courts and other branches of government is not new. But it's growing. The latest wave comes as President Donald Trump faces scores of lawsuits challenging his policies. His administration says the issue isn't what he's trying to do but rather that judges acting as “judicial activists" are in some cases are standing in his way.
William Raftery, an analyst at the National Center for State Courts, said the battle between branches of state government for power dates to the earliest years of the U.S. and that lawmakers often make proposals aimed at weakening judges. Most of them aren't adopted.
He said it won't be clear whether the efforts are getting more traction until most states' legislative sessions wrap up in a few months.
Here's a look at the measures:
In 1803 the U.S. Supreme Court established a precedent in the landmark case Marbury v. Madison that courts can find laws unconstitutional.
A Montana legislative committee has voted to reject that concept. It advanced a measure that says the idea that courts alone have the power to decide what laws are constitutional is “a myth" and does not accurately reflect the 1803 ruling.
Instead, the GOP-sponsored bill asserts that “no single branch has exclusive power to bind its decisions on another branch of government.”
A vote in the full House is the next step. The same measure passed the Senate but failed in the House two years ago.
The push comes after Montana court rulings that Republican lawmakers didn’t like. A district judge last year blocked enforcement of three laws to restrict abortion access and the state Supreme Court kept a law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors on hold.
Rep. Lee Deming, the sponsor of the resolution, said he’s not responding to any particular rulings.
An analysis of legislation by the bill-tracking service Plural shows Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia have similar legislation this year.
In Kansas, GOP leaders have long been frustrated with state Supreme Court rulings that forced them to spend more on public schools, overturned death sentences and protected abortion rights. They’re renewing a push to change how justices are selected.
The governor now chooses a justice from three nominees put forth by a commission controlled by lawyers. Voters get a say every six years on whether the justice can continue serving.
Senate President Ty Masterson said he and others want to cut the influence of lawyers and have voters choose justices, as they did in Kansas before 1960, and as 22 other states do.
If lawmakers approve the idea, it would go before voters.
Fred Logan, a lawyer and former Kansas Republican Party chair, said during a legislative hearing Tuesday that shifting to elections will make raising money for a campaign the key skill for potential justices, instead of their legal knowledge and experience.
An Oklahoma bill would tell judges not to defer to government agencies' interpretation of laws if the statutes themselves are not crystal clear.
That effort would tell judges how to do their jobs while at the same time taking power away from the executive branch.
The concept echoes a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that supporters, including conservatives and business groups, said will stem overreach by agencies.
At least 20 states have adopted a similar stance through court rulings, laws and a constitutional amendment in Florida, according to an analysis by Ballotpedia.
A committee has advanced the Oklahoma bill to the full Senate.
A Missouri legislative leader proposed a bill designed to oust a circuit court judge whose rulings he didn't like, but has since decided against the move.
House Speaker Pro Tem Chad Perkins, a Republican, said his bill to reduce the number of judges in a mid-Missouri circuit from four to three was aimed at pushing Judge Cotton Walker off the bench.
Some of Walker's rulings have paved the way for a marijuana legalization ballot question to go before voters and another that forced a rewrite of the state's description of an abortion rights ballot measure.
Perkins told The Associated Press this week that the legislation is on hold because the circuit has so many cases on its docket that it doesn't make sense to cut a judgeship.
“With that being said, I will reiterate I’m not happy with Judge Walker’s rulings,” Perkins said, “but that’s a matter for the voters of Cole County to take care of.”
Walker would be on the ballot next year if he seeks reelection.
Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Associated Press reporter David Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed to this article.
Mary Torrence, a Topeka, Kansas, resident, wears a button during a legislative committee hearing expressing her opposition to a proposal to have state Supreme Court justices elected rather than appointed by the governor after a nominating commission screens applications for vacancies, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kans. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Rashane Hamby, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, follows testimony in a legislative committee hearing on a proposal her group opposes to have state Supreme Court justices elected rather than appointed by the governor after applicants are screened by a nominating commission, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kans. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Fred Logan, a Kansas City-area attorney and a former Kansas Republican Party chair, urges a legislative committee not to scrap the current system of picking state Supreme Court justices in favor of electing them, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kans. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, testifies during a committee hearing in favor of having state Supreme Court justices elected rather than having applicants for vacancies screened by a nominating commission and appointed by the governor, with no role for legislators, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kans. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
BANGKOK (AP) — The death toll from Myanmar's powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake keeps climbing amid rescue efforts.
The military government said Saturday that 1,644 people have been killed, with thousands of others injured and dozens missing.
The earthquake struck midday Friday, followed by several aftershocks, including one that measured 6.4.
In Thailand, the quake rocked the greater Bangkok area, leaving 10 people dead.
Several countries, including Malaysia, Russia and China have dispatched rescue and relief teams.
Here is the latest:
Myanmar’s ruling military said on state television that the confirmed death toll from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake increased to 1,644.
The new total is a sharp rise compared to the 1,002 total announced just hours earlier. The number of injured increased to 3,408, while the missing figure rose to 139 from Friday's quake.
Russia has sent a medical team to Myanmar to care for earthquake victims, a Health Ministry official said.
According to Alexey Kuznetsov, the medics include specialists in infectious diseases, resuscitation and traumatology.
Separately, Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said that two planes carrying Russian rescue workers have landed in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon.
Earlier, the ministry reported that a mission, including search and rescue teams, canine units, anaesthesiologists and psychologists, was on its way to the disaster-stricken country.
The ministry said that its rescue teams are equipped with “endoscopes and acoustic devices for searching for people in rubble up to 4.5 meters (nearly 15 feet) deep, as well as ground-penetrating radars and thermal imagers.”
Hong Kong sent a group of 51 search-and-rescue personnel to help with earthquake relief efforts in Myanmar. The group includes firefighters and ambulance personnel as well as two search-and-rescue dogs, among others.
The group brings along nine tons (18,000 pounds) of equipment including life detectors and masonry cutting machines, as well as an automatic satellite tracking antenna system that provides network connection, according to a statement on the Hong Kong government’s website.
Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press show the earthquake toppled the air traffic control tower at Naypyitaw International Airport.
The photos taken Saturday show the tower toppled over as if sheered from its base. Debris lay scattered from the top of the tower, which controlled all air traffic in the capital of Myanmar.
It wasn’t immediately clear if there had been any injuries in the collapse, though the tower would have had staff inside of it at the time of the earthquake Friday. It likely also stopped air traffic into the international airport, given all electronics and radar would have been routed into the tower for controllers.
Flights carrying rescue teams from China have landed at the airport in Yangon instead of going directly to the airports in the major stricken cities of Mandalay and Naypyitaw.
A spokesperson for the China International Development Cooperation Agency said that Beijing will provide Myanmar with 100 million yuan ($13.8 million) in emergency humanitarian aid for earthquake relief efforts.
An additional rescue team of 82 people left Bejing, hours after a different team of emergency responders from the Chinese province of Yunnan, bordering Myanmar, arrived in the earthquake-stricken country.
Additionally, 16 members of the Chinese civil relief squad Blue Sky Rescue Team in the city of Ruili, Yunnan, departed to Muse City in northern Myanmar to help with relief efforts, according to state broadcaster CGTN. Chinese authorities also sent a first batch of 80 tents and 290 blankets.
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping extended condolences to Myanmar’s leader Min Aung Hlaing.
The earthquake was felt in parts of China's Yunnan province, though casualties were limited. Two people in Ruili suffered minor injuries and 847 homes were damaged, according to authorities. Some high-rise buildings and older houses in urban areas were also partially damaged, but power and water supplies and transportation and communications lines have been restored.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters says that his government will support relief efforts “via the International Red Cross Movement."
“Our thoughts are with all those who have lost loved ones, and to everyone else affected,” Peters posted on X.
South Korea will send the aid through international organizations to support recovery efforts following the recent earthquake.
The Foreign Ministry stated on Saturday that Seoul will closely monitor the situation and consider additional support if needed.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese rescuers arrive at the Yangon International Airport in Yangon, Myanmar on Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Haymhan Aung/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo taken from video released by Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Saturday, March 29, 2025, Russian Emergency Ministry employees gather to board one of two planes with rescuers to Myanmar following Friday's earthquake, from a Moscow airfield, Russia. (Russia Emergency Ministry press service via AP)
Rescuers walk past the ruin of a high-rise building under construction that collapsed after a strong earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
People stand near a damaged construction site of a high-rise building in Bangkok, Thailand, Saturday, March 29, 2025, as rescuers search for victims following its collapse after Friday's earthquake. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers search for victims at the site of a high-rise building under construction that collapsed after a strong earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, early Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Rescue workers help an injured women who was trapped under a building Friday, March 28, 2025, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
In this image provided by The Myanmar Military True News Information Team, Myanmar's military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, center, inspects damaged road caused by an earthquake Friday, March 28, 2025, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. (The Myanmar Military True News Information Team via AP)
Rescuers search for victims at the site of a high-rise building under construction that collapsed after a strong earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, early Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Patients are evacuated outdoors at a hospital after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Tadchakorn Kitchaiphon)
Rescue workers take an injured man who was trapped under a building Friday, March 28, 2025, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
People wait at the damaged construction site of a high-rise building in Bangkok, Thailand, Saturday, March 29, 2025, as rescuers search for victims following its collapse after an earthquake. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Relatives of workers of a high-rise building under construction that collapsed after a strong earthquake wait as rescuers search for victims, in Bangkok, Thailand, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers work at the site a high-rise building under construction that collapsed after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, early Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Volunteers look for survivors near a damaged building Friday, March 28, 2025, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
In this image provided by The Myanmar Military True News Information Team, victims caused by an earthquake is seen compound of government hospital Friday, March 28, 2025, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. (The Myanmar Military True News Information Team via AP)
