34 Facts About Phill Kline

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

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

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

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

Phill 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 Phill Kline committed numerous violations of conduct rules, which included providing false testimony.

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

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

Phill Kline 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Phill Kline was finance director of the Johnson County Republican Committee.

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

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

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

Phill 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.

In 2002, Phill 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.

In doing so, Phill Kline requested the redacted medical records of 90 women and girls who either gave birth to a child or had an abortion.

Phill Kline's office was ultimately granted these redacted records by the Kansas Supreme Court.

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

Phill Kline was suspended from practicing law due to the fact that he illegally accessed the private medical records of women who made the choice to have an abortion.

Phill Kline obtained some records provided on his demand to Dr Kristin Neuhaus, whose prosecution he pursued after Dr Tiller's assassination, and illegally disclosed them, including discussing them with then-Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on television.

Phill Kline has defended the memo and the mobilization of churches it calls for, insisting it does not violate IRS regulations governing the tax-exempt status of churches, under which a church stands to lose its tax-exempt status for officially supporting a political candidate, if the Commissioner of Internal Revenue so determines.

KCTV, a Kansas City CBS affiliate, aired an investigative report that addressed accusations that Phill Kline did not reside within Johnson County as required by state law, and that he spent an inadequate amount of time at the district attorney's office.

Phill Kline had rented a small apartment in Stilwell, and was registered to vote from that location.

On two occasions, Phill Kline was tailed by reporters from Johnson County back to Topeka, the location of his primary residence.

The KCTV report, based on the incomplete records, suggested that Phill Kline spent an inadequate amount of time in the Johnson Country District Attorney's Office, averaging only 29 hours per week.

In January, 2009, Phill Kline left Kansas to become a visiting professor at the Liberty University School of Law, in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Phill Kline is an assistant professor at the school.

Phill Kline testified that he had the right to deceive state agencies to gain information in abortion investigations and that he had no duty to promptly notify a trial judge that he had provided flawed information.

The recommendation to suspend his license went to the state's Supreme Court, where Phill Kline's demands resulted in the unusual recusal of five Justices and a substitute appeals court judge from the case.

However, Phill Kline continued to pursue the matter as a federal case, in federal District court, where he lost in 2016.