Kris Kobach
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Kris W. Kobach (born March 26, 1966, Madison, Wisconsin) is an American law professor, and is currently a Professor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law (UMKC).
He currently serves as the chairman of Kansas' Republican Party, and in the 2004 election, he ran and lost as the Republican Party candidate for Congress in the 3rd Congressional District of Kansas.
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[edit] Education
Kobach graduated from Washburn Rural High School in Topeka, Kansas in 1984. In 1988, Kobach obtained an A.B., summa cum laude, in Government from Harvard College. Subsequently, the British Government awarded him a Marshall Scholarship, which allowed him to obtain an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Oxford University in 1990 and 1992, respectively. He then returned to the United States and attended the Yale Law School, where he graduated with his J.D. in 1995.
At Yale, he served as an editor on the Yale Law Journal. During this time, he published two books: The Referendum: Direct Democracy in Switzerland (Dartmouth, 1994), and Political Capital: The Motives, Tactics, and Goals of Politicized Businesses in South Africa (University Press of America, 1990).
[edit] Legal career
From 1995 to 1996, Kobach was a law clerk for Judge Deanell Reece Tacha on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Lawrence, Kansas. He began his professorship at UMKC shortly thereafter.
In 2001, President George W. Bush awarded him a White House Fellowship to work for Attorney General John Ashcroft. Once the fellowship ended, he stayed on as Counsel to the Attorney General. There, shortly after the September 11 attacks, he led a team of attorneys and researchers who formulated and established the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System. He also helped reshape the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2002. Subsequently, he returned to UMKC, where he remains in his chaired professorship today.
[edit] 2004 Election
In the 2004 election, Kobach lost a bid for Congress in the 3rd Congressional District of Kansas as the Republican candidate.
Kobach's contenders in the Republican Party primary were Adam Taff and Patricia Lightner. Taff had previously lost the 2002 election for the same office to Dennis Moore, and Lightner was a six-year veteran state legislator. Kobach beat Taff and Lightner in the primary election, but later lost the election to Congressman Dennis Moore with a 55%-43% margin, Moore's largest victory to that date.
The election brought Kobach national attention, due to Kobach's stance against illegal immigration and alleged ties to white-supremacist groups.[1] He was given a speaking role on the opening day of the 2004 Republican national convention, and used his moments on the podium to call for the U.S. military to be sent to the Mexican border to block illegal immigration.[2]
While running for Congress he was representing Federation for American Immigration Reform in a lawsuit against the state of Kansas, challenging a state law granting in-state tuition to students whose parents brought them to the country illegally. The suit was ultimately dismissed.[3]
[edit] Chairman of Republican Party
On January 28, 2007, Kobach was elected by Kansas Republicans to be the chairman of the Republican Party in Kansas until January, 2009.
Since becoming chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, Kobach has instituted many programs and has changed many aspects of the Party's infrastructure. From office staff, strategy and organization to media advocacy and aggressiveness the Kansas GOP has become a key source of information for Republicans and criticism of Democrats.
Prime targets of the Kansas GOP under Kobach have been Kansas Congresswoman Nancy Boyda, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and former Attorney General Paul Morrison (who resigned under pressure from media, Republicans and the public after information regarding an affair with a former staffer and possible legal violations surfaced).
Kobach has created the "Boyda Brief" that the party utilizes to criticize Boyda. As well, Kobach has created "Sebelius Scandals" releases and has pledged to target Democrats in the upcoming election and has promised not to interfere in any Republican primaries.
Kobach's time as Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party will end at Kansas Days, 2009.
[edit] Lawsuits
Kobach served as lead lawyer defending the city of Valley Park, Missouri in a federal appeals case filed on behalf of the city's ordinances, which had been struck down in state court, "barring illegal immigrants from renting housing" (which was later dropped) and sanctioning employers who hire illegal immigrants (which were maintained for the purposes of appeal). The ordinances on employers were upheld by a federal judge in Missouri, E. Richard Webber on January 31, 2008 [4]
He also assisted in a similar case, wherein, on February 7, 2008 "a federal judge in Arizona [Neil V. Wake] ruled against a lawsuit by construction contractors and immigrant organizations who sought to halt a state law that went into effect on Jan. 1 [2008] imposing severe penalties on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants." Both cases are likely to be appealed by the losing sides. He was on the losing side of a similar case in the city of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, whose ordinances were struck down by a federal judge in Pennsylvania; this case is also on appeal. [5]
[edit] References
- ^ Kansas City - News - All's FAIR
- ^ Salon.com
- ^ lawsuit
- ^ New York Times, Sunday, February 10, 2008, p.(A)22
- ^ New York Times, Sunday, February 10, 2008, p.(A)22
