News & Commentary

“What they’re trying to do is excise transgender people from the protections of state code,” said Sharon Brett, an attorney at the ACLU of Kansas, referring to lawmakers in her state who passed a law last year that narrowly defines sex.

“Every day there are new attacks on voting rights in this country and Kansas is no exception,” Kubic stated. “Democracy is not just about voting rights. Democracy is the idea that everyone matters.”

Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Kansas, said body cameras would not fix the problems that came up in the two-step lawsuit, in which the ACLU represented motorists. However, he said cameras can be an important tool to encourage accountability.

The ACLU noted that the criminalization of marijuana is a racial justice issue - especially in Kansas. This has disproportionately impacted Black Kansans, who ranked 12th in the nation for the largest racial disparities in arrest rates for marijuana possession in 2018.

Sharon Brett, legal director of ACLU of Kansas, said state government opposition to legal distribution of medical cannabis interfered with personal health care choices of Kansans and conflicted with polling that demonstrated statewide popularity of medical marijuana reform.

A U.S. District Court in Texas has granted a motion to intervene in women’s healthcare in Kansas, Missouri and Idaho following their claims about a commonly used abortion medication.

Civil rights advocates argued in court this week that drivers’ licenses should not lead to “forced outing,” leaving a district judge to decide how a divisive law will impact the day-to-day lives of transgender Kansans.

Six months after a judge blocked transgender Kansans from changing the gender marker on their driver's licenses, the issue is back in Shawnee County District Court for a longer-lasting order.

At the Shawnee County District Court hearing, Kobach, the Kansas Department of Revenue, and the ACLU of Kansas argued over whether KDOR should be blocked from allowing gender marker changes while the lawsuit against SB 180 continues.