April 2025

16 months from now Kansans will vote on a state constitutional amendment that will, if passed, institute popular elections for state supreme court justices. This possibility disturbs many Kansans, and it’s worth trying to understand why.

Only four months after completion in 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State collapsed. This new suspension bridge was based on what were presumed to be the full set of engineering requirements of the time, and was considered a state-of-the-art structure that had eliminated all possible risks. But unlike other bridges that served as models, this bridge was subjected to regular high winds. Suspended bridges experience “resonance,” a physics principle most of us encountered when we used a swing on a playground and additional pushes at the right time cause us to swing higher and higher.