Kline, a member of the Republican Party, lost re-election as attorney general to Democratic challenger Paul J. Morrison in 2006.
[3] He filed charges against George Tiller, a late-term abortion provider, and led a years-long effort to prosecute Planned Parenthood in Kansas.
[3] 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.
He entered private practice as an associate with Blackwell Sanders, a large firm in Kansas City specializing in corporate law.
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.
[14] 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.
[15][12] On May 31, 2009, while serving as an usher at his church's Sunday morning services, Tiller was assassinated by Scott Roeder, an ORW member who had the cell phone number of ORW staff member and convicted clinic arsonist Cheryl Sullenger, on a post-it note on his dashboard when he was apprehended fleeing, a few hours after the murder.
"[18] On April 18, 2006, Judge J. Thomas Marten agreed and issued a permanent injunction, ruling that such a policy violated the children's rights to informational privacy and could not be justified by Kansas law.
[19] 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.
He 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.
[12] The Kansas Supreme Court stated: "Ultimately, we unanimously conclude the weight of the aggravating factors—i.e., Kline's inability or refusal to acknowledge the line between overzealous advocacy and operating within the bounds of the law and his professional obligations; his selfish motives; and his lengthy and substantial pattern of misconduct—weigh more heavily than the mitigating factors and merit his indefinite suspension.
The party challenging the law was barely 18 at the time of the offense, and both Limon and the other boy were residents of a home for the mentally disabled.
[25][26] In the memo, Kline tells his staff how to form a campaign committee for him at each church that will educate and register voters, "encourage people to contribute and volunteer," and network with their own email lists.
KCTV, a Kansas City CBS affiliate, aired an investigative report that addressed accusations that 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.
[29] The KCTV report, based on the incomplete records, also suggested that Kline spent an inadequate amount of time in the Johnson Country District Attorney's Office, averaging only 29 hours per week.
[10] In January, 2009, Kline left Kansas to become a visiting professor at the Liberty University School of Law, in Lynchburg, Virginia.
In 2010 the Kansas Supreme Court Disciplinary Administrator brought formal professional ethics charges against Kline before the Kansas Supreme Court based on perjury, an illegal file transfer, misleading legal guidance that Kline had provided to the grand jury in the Johnson County clinic case, the O'Reilly appearance, and several other matters.
[30] On October 13, 2011, the Kansas Board of Discipline of Attorneys recommended that Kline's law license be indefinitely suspended, citing a pattern of repeatedly misleading statements, "dishonest and selfish motives", and a failure to "take any responsibility for his misconduct."