Attorneys for a Kansas judge contend recent legislation changing judicial selection in Kansas is unconstitutional. But the state argues the law is a proper exercise of longstanding legislative authority.

District Judge Larry Solomon of Kingman County has been challenging a 2014 law that says judges in the 31 judicial districts in Kansas pick their chief judges, taking that authority from the Kansas Supreme Court.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Solomon’s attorneys argue in new court filings that the legislation is unconstitutional as a violation of the separation-of-powers doctrine. Solomon’s lawyers also ask the Kansas Supreme Court to invalidate the entire law.

The state says in its brief that the law is “a proper exercise of longstanding legislative authority to regulate the selection of ‘officers.”‘