News & Commentary

The U.S. Department of Justice and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach's office intend to end in-state tuition benefits for undocumented immigrants.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas blasted the joint move by the Trump administration and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach. “Kobach is so determined to collude with the Trump-Vance administration that he will misuse our courts to attack the laws of the very state he serves,” Micah Kubic, executive director of ACLU Kansas, said in a statement Wednesday. “He does not, in fact, get to single-handedly decide who is a Kansan.”

“This bill undermines our state’s strong constitutional protections against government overreach and persecution,” added Micah Kubic, ACLU of Kansas Executive Director “It subjects people to unacceptable privacy violations and puts them in harm’s way. Discriminatory laws like this bill violate the fundamental rights guaranteed by the state constitution. They contradict what it means to be a Kansan.”

Opponents of the measure said it resulted from the court issuing decisions that the Legislature disagreed with. ACLU of Kansas director Micah Kubic said: “This is a blatant attack by the legislators on our justices, and it’s part of a decades-long pattern of politicians attempting to punish the judicial branch for issuing decisions on education and reproductive freedom that they disagree with.”

Harper Seldin, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Project, told Salon that the law makes it next to impossible to be a transgender person in Kansas, effectively pushing the community out of public life. “If you cannot use the restroom at work, you cannot be employed. If you cannot use the restroom at school, you cannot go to school. If you cannot use your driver’s license without fear of being outed as transgender — which many people treat as extraordinarily private information, in part because of the risk of harassment, or even untoward questions — you really can’t go about your life,” he told Salon. “Think of all the things that you need to use a driver’s license for in Kansas, including vote.”

Despite some local leaders sharing concerns about voters losing early voting access, the Johnson County Election Office is moving forward with changes to advance voting locations, including several closures, for the August primary election. In May, Election Commissioner Connie Schmidt notified the Johnson County Board of Commissioners that the Election Office plans to close eight advance voting locations throughout the county, but will add two new locations in rapidly growing Spring Hill and De Soto.

ACLU of Kansas director Micah Kubic said: “This is a blatant attack by the legislators on our justices, and it’s part of a decades-long pattern of politicians attempting to punish the judicial branch for issuing decisions on education and reproductive freedom that they disagree with.”

“The clemency process provides a second chance in a criminal legal system that has been shown to be overly punitive and devastating to families and communities,” the ACLU statement said. “This process includes careful consideration by the governor on a case by case basis.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas is calling on Johnson County’s Interim Election Commissioner Connie Schmidt to reverse a decision to eliminate eight advance voting sites ahead of the Aug. 4 primary.