News & Commentary

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, in partnership with other area civic groups, organized a demonstration and press conference outside the Wyandotte County Courthouse on Tuesday, calling on elections officials to provide ballot materials in Spanish.

A Shawnee city councilmember accused of deleting comments and blocking residents from his official Facebook page has drawn a reprimand from the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas.

Micah Kubic, executive director of ACLU Kansas, said it was frustrating that hundreds of eligible voters’ ballots were not counted for reasons out of their control.

“On its inception, our clients were interested in pursuing a change in policy. They were not in it for the money, and so damages claims were never a part of the case,” said Kunyu Ching, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Kansas, in a conversation for the Kansas Reflector podcast.

In Kansas, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union have drafted a letter reminding election workers that a gender marker on a person’s identification does not need to match or correspond to a voter’s gender expression.

Donnavan Dillon, a 21-year-old junior at the University of Kansas, community organizer and self-identified member of the queer community, spends his days like most of his peers: he attends classes, does homework, goes to work and hangs out with his friends, when he finds the time. 

Kansas has long had an ambivalent relationship with capital punishment. Three decades after the state passed its current death penalty law, its new execution chamber remains unused.

The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit in 2021 stating the police department violated federal rights by incorrectly including people on the gang list as gang members or associates based on vague and overbroad criteria.

ACLU of Kansas officials say an elementary school principal in Belleville invited a representative from Gideons International to distribute Bibles at the school. In a letter, the ACLU warned that the principal's actions violated the First Amendment, which mandates governmental neutrality when it comes to religion.