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Chief Justice- John Roberts

Associate Justices- Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagen,Gorsuch,Kavanaugh

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Kahler was a married man but his marriage began to fall apart. Therefore he soon became abusive to his wife. He soon suffered from depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. A year later, he visited his wife's grandmother's house and killed the entire family. The defendants state that he was suffering mental illnesses and he was overcome by them. However a crime can not be pardoned by a mental illnesses.

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This case originated from a lower court in Kansas known as Kansas Supreme Court. In this lower court, Kahler was convicted and given a sentence.

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The petitioner of this case was James K. Kahler for the reason that the defendant was faced by mental illnesses.

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May a state abolish the insanity defense without violating the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments?
Answer: yes, because Kansas as a state has the power to determine the connection between mental illness and crime.

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Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a dissenting opinion. It stated that Kansas didn't redefine the insanity defense but instead eliminated the core of a traditional defense, therefore it was unconstitutional.

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The Dissenting opinion was that an insanity defense wasn't fundamental and states have the authority to define the relationship between a crime and a mental illness.
The concurring opinion was that under a normal trial, he would be innocent so Kansas violates that fundamental law, thus unconstitutional.

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This court case didn't rule a legislation unconstitutional or a previous supreme court ruling. But it did technically rule against the public official of the insanity defense because it gave the states the power to define the relationship with insanity and a crime. Therefore, it impacts us because some mentally ill people can be set free into society.

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In my opinion, this is an example of Judicial Activism because it doesn't limit judicial power but gives states the power to determine the connection between a crime and mental state.