Judge removed from nomination because of political tweets says they shouldn’t influence his work on the bench

A Kansas judge whose Twitter feed sunk his nomination to the state’s second-highest court says he was expressing personal opinions that do not influence his work on the bench.

In a statement Tuesday, Judge Jeffry Jack also criticized Senate President Susan Wagle for opposing his confirmation to the Kansas Court of Appeals before he had a hearing.

His Twitter page showed hundreds of tweets and retweets from 2017 that criticized President Donald Trump and expressed support for gun control and abortion rights.  Some included vulgar language.

Kelly withdrew Jack’s nomination Tuesday.

Jack said his tweets were “anti-violence, anti-discrimination and anti-hypocrisy.”  He said he assumed he was expressing personal opinions to a small group of followers and did not understand that his tweets were accessible to the public.