Phill Kline

Phillip D. Kline (born December 31, 1959) is a former American attorney who served as a Kansas state legislator, district attorney of Johnson County, and Kansas Attorney General.

He earned a B.S. in business communications in 1982.

While still a law student, Kline ran for U.S. Congress in 1986.

He won the Republican primary election but was defeated in the general election by the incumbent, Democrat Jim Slattery.

Kline received his J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1987, and was an Associate Editor for the Kansas Law Review.

He entered private practice as an associate with Blackwell Sanders, a large firm in Kansas City specializing in corporate law.

He married his wife, Deborah, in 1989, and settled in Shawnee close to where he grew up.

The Klines have one daughter, Hillary, born in 1992.

They are members of the Central Church of the Nazarene in Lenexa, Kansas.

After leaving Blackwell Sanders, Kline hosted two radio programs: The Phill and Mary Show on Kansas City AM station KMBZ, and Face Off With Phill Kline on Topeka AM station WIBW.

He was finance director of the Johnson County Republican Committee.

In 1992, Kline won election to the Kansas House of Representatives, where he represented the 18th District.

which included Shawnee.

There, he chaired the House Appropriations Committee and was a member of several oversight committees.

He was a member of the advisory committee for Kansas Senator Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.

Kline remained in the Kansas House until 2000, when he ran for election to the United States House of Representatives, seeking the Third District seat held by Democratic Congressman Dennis Moore.

Although Kline won the Republican primary, he lost the general election to Moore, 184,050 to 145,542 votes, 54.8% to 43.3%.

In 2002, Kline won election as attorney general of Kansas, defeating fellow Republican David Adkins of Leawood in the primary and Democrat Chris Biggs of Junction City in the general election.

On becoming attorney general, Kline and his family moved to Topeka.

In December 2005 and April 2006, he successfully argued before the Supreme Court of the United States in Kansas v. Marsh, wherein the Court reversed a ruling made by the Kansas Supreme Court that the state's death penalty was unconstitutional.

In 2005, Kline began investigating possible cases of child rape and illegal partial-birth and late-term abortions.

In doing so, Kline requested the redacted medical records (without names) of 90 women and girls who either gave birth to a child or had an abortion.

His office was ultimately granted these redacted records by the Kansas Supreme Court.

Kline, a member of the Republican Party, lost re-election as attorney general to Democratic challenger Paul J. Morrison in 2006.

Kline was appointed by the Republican County Central Committee to fill the vacancy left Morrison's election as Kansas Attorney General, becoming district attorney of Johnson County on the day he left office as attorney general and essentially switching jobs with Morrison.

On December 21, 2006, Kline charged abortion provider Dr. George Tiller with more than 30 misdemeanors, most involving abortions Tiller allegedly performed on minors.

But just hours after the charges were unsealed, a Sedgwick County judge threw them out "at the request of Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston, who said her office had not been consulted by Kline."

However, on June 28, 2007, a 19-count indictment was unexpectedly filed against Tiller by Kline's successor, Paul J. Morrison.

Kline then ran for a full term as district attorney, but was defeated in the 2008 Republican primary.

Kline was a polarizing figure in state politics, largely surrounding his use of his office to investigate abortion providers.

He filed charges against George Tiller, a late-term abortion provider, and led a years-long effort to prosecute Planned Parenthood in Kansas.

Despite the acquittal, Tiller was charged on December 12, 2008, by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts (KBHA) on 11 counts of illegal late-term abortions.

On March 27, 2009, Dr. Tiller was found not guilty of all 19 misdemeanor charges stemming from some abortions he performed at his Wichita clinic in 2003.

Kline received a series of official rebukes and reprimands for his legal tactics against abortion providers, and in 2013, his law license was indefinitely suspended by the Kansas Supreme Court, which found "clear and convincing evidence" that Kline committed numerous violations of conduct rules, which included providing false testimony.

Kline appealed his license suspension to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to intervene, leaving the suspension in place.

Kline is currently an assistant professor at Liberty University, an evangelical Christian college in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Born in Kansas City, Kansas, Kline grew up in Shawnee, a community on the Kansas side of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area.

He was the third of five children; his father abandoned the family when Kline was five years old, leaving his mother to be a single parent.

Kline graduated from Shawnee Mission Northwest High School and subsequently attended the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri.

He was a member of the varsity wrestling team with a partial wrestling scholarship, and a member of the cross country team.