Wyoming Chief Justice Urges Legislature Not To Revamp Courts Over Abortion Ruling

The chief justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court urged the Legislature Monday not to change the structure of the state’s courts based on the high court’s Jan. 6 opinion declaring abortion a fundamental health care right.

Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice Lynne Boomgaarden’s state of the judiciary speech during the Monday opening of this year’s legislative session in Wyoming was a plea to not politicize the courts. 

That plea unfolded even as some lawmakers have discussed winnowing the Wyoming Supreme Court from five justices to three; and others have advanced a bill to have prospective justices clear state Senate confirmation before taking the bench. 

“We may not like the outcome the law demands,” Boomgaarden told the roughly 90 legislators gathered Monday in the House of Representatives chamber of the Capitol. But, added the chief justice, “we can sleep at night because we followed the oath we took to uphold the law. Including the United States and Wyoming Constitutions.” 

Early in Boomgaarden’s speech, Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, who is an ardent pro-life legislator and a key sponsor on the now-blocked Life is a Human Right Act, walked out of the chamber early in the chief justice’s speech. 

Rodriguez-Williams also chairs the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, a group of Republican House representatives that pushes pro-life legislation.

Rodriguez-Williams told Cowboy State Daily in a text that, “The greatest threat to democracy isn’t reining in an out of control judicial branch. What’s a threat is legalizing from the bench a right to kill people carte blanche.”

Rep. Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan, also left the chamber during the speech, but told Cowboy State Daily that’s due to a painful back issue, which also kept him from standing during the frequent standing ovations that punctuated both Gov. Mark Gordon’s state of the state address and Boomgaarden’s state of the judiciary. 

‘This Is The Rule Of Law’

The high court’s Jan. 6 opinion in Wyoming v. Johnson upheld abortion as a health care right under the state Constitution’s promise of health care autonomy. It overturned the state’s two abortion bans: one that sought to outlaw nearly all abortions except in rape, incest and dire health situations, and another banning chemical, or pill abortions – also with exceptions. 

Moral and social outrage erupted in conservative circles after the decision, and legislative leaders promised to work toward changing the state constitution. But the decision has also weathered legal scrutiny. 

Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz – himself a former state Supreme Court justice – asked the court Jan. 20 to hear his argument against the decision. Kautz’s deputy AG Jay Jerde argued in that petition that the decision essentially warped the law to reach its result – and without any party in the case asking it to do so. 

Jerde’s request is pending. 

Boomgaarden during her speech continued her plea to the Legislature, in which she also defended the way Wyoming chooses judges. 

A panel of lawyers and non-lawyers, working outside public view and with non-public applicant names, chooses three nominees to fill any judge’s seat that falls vacant. 

The three nominees’ names become public at that point. 

From those, the governor chooses one appointee to take the bench. 

“This is the only way the system can guarantee every citizen who enters the courtroom will be treated the same,” said Boomgaarden. “Subject to the same laws as their neighbor. Regardless of their politics… the politics in the governor’s office or the Wyoming Legislature.” 

Boomgaarden said courts take the cases they’re given and do their best with them under the law. She said they work to follow the law and constitutions.

She added: “This is the rule of law.”

At this, a round of applause from some – but not all - legislators interrupted the chief justice. 

In the back of the room, Senate Majority Floor Leader Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, stood in applause alongside Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, and Democratic Sens. Mike Gierau (Jackson) and Chris Rothfuss (Laramie). 

“Healthy tension between branches of government is useful and expected,” said Boomgaarden. “Efforts to punish or politicize the courts are not.” 

Boomgaarden urged lawmakers to cling to “mutual respect” across disagreements. 

She also revived a hint with which the high court led its abortion ruling: that the Legislature should pass a constitutional amendment if it doesn’t like the way the court reads the constitution.

The passage of a constitutional amendment that would let the Legislature restrict abortion is one of the key issues headed into this four-week budget session. 

Boomgaarden concluded by saying that truth, justice, courage and hope are “virtues that reflect the values our state holds dear,” and “to which all public servants should aspire.”

“By these standards your Wyoming judiciary is strong,” she said. “Guided by the pursuit of truth in the law.” 

Lawmakers stood to applaud Boomgaarden after her speech. 

House Appropriations Chair John Bear, R-Gillette, remained seated, as did Republican Reps. Pepper Ottman and Joel Guggenmos, both of Riverton, and Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas. 

Guggenmos told Cowboy State Daily in a later text message that he has “zero respect for judges who legislate from the bench, and she oversaw the latest overstepping of the bounds of the Supreme Court.”

Boomgaarden was among the four-justice majority that kept abortion legal. She was also among the three-justice majority that called it a fundamental right subject to the highest level of judicial scrutiny.

Guggenmos said that the 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade on the federal level signaled that the states have authority to decide the abortion issue.

“To me, that means that the legislature, (which) is elected by the people to represent the will of the people, gets to decide - not unelected judges,” wrote Guggenmos. He said the high court overstepped “into our lane as representatives of the people and undid our work that we accomplished for the people. That is why I did not stand for her.”

Kelly sat during the final ovation, and reclined against his back cushion. 

This story has been clarified to note that Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, also stood to applaud the chief justice’s statement on the rule of law.

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.