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Radio Active Magazine
A locally produced program where activist groups in the Kansas City area present interviews, commentary, editorials, and other thought provoking content on a weekly basis.
Sharon Brett, Legal Director of the Kansas American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), discusses their work with Radio Active Magazine regular Craig Lubow. The discussion includes abortion rights including the proposed amendment to the Kansas constitution, which Sharon summarized in a recent op ed in the Kansas Reflector. The argument used to overturn Roe v. Wade might be used to similarly overturn protections afforded gender nonconforming people. Slightly different legal principles might be required to allow states to outlaw interracial marriage; she noted that Justice Thomas is in an interracial marriage.
The Kansas ACLU is also involved in election protection. When Achison, Kansas, tried to close voter registration early, the ACLU worked with the Kansas Secretary of State’s office to get voter registration reopened. The ACLU also provide the legal component of an election protection program with volunteers coordinated by Loud Light.
The recent decision by Arizona to outlaw filming a law enforcement action closer than 8 feet is concerning. For example, what happens if an officer walks closer to a citizen, who is filming legally? Is that person then required to stop filming? This law might seem to have a chilling effect on people’s free speech rights to document and publicize public events. Fortunately, most appellate courts, including the 10th Circuit, which governs Kansas but not Arizona, have in the past ruled to support free speech rights in similar cases. This makes it unlikely that a case like this would be accepted by the Supreme Court, because the Supreme Court prefers to take cases where there are substantive differences of opinion in lower courts.
Sharon also discusses the case where a public high school coach was challenged for leading his team in prayer on the 50 yard line after a football game. Would the court have ruled the same if it had been a Muslim prayer?
And private religious schools are now eligible for more state funds and tax breaks due to another recent Supreme Court decision.
Sharon also discussed other topics with Craig on Jaws of Justice.
Copyright 2022, Sharon Brett, Craig Lubow, Spencer Graves, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA) license
