News & Commentary

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.

TOPEKA — A Kansas elementary school principal who invited an evangelical Christian missionary to pass out Bibles to students during their recess in May violated the First Amendment, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas warned Monday in a letter to the district.

“I also think that in general there is a heavy potential here for discrimination against protected classes or demographics,” ACLU of Kansas Staff Attorney Kunyu Ching said. “I think it’s common knowledge these sorts of algorithms can produce bias, including racial bias.

“Kansans have had enough of politicians’ misinformation or misrepresentation of their positions,” Kubic said. “When given truthful, reliable, and accurate sources focused on issues of civil liberties and civil rights, voters prioritize those issues even amidst the noise of the campaign season.”

The ACLU of Kansas has a hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE to help voters who report issues or have questions.

The Kansas Legislature’s bipartisan auditing committee voted to issue a subpoena to compel the Ford County clerk to cooperate with the state’s security examination of voting-related documentation and equipment used in the 2022 general election.In 2018, the ACLU of Kansas filed a suit against Cox.