News & Commentary

D.C. Heigert, an attorney at the ACLU of Kansas, said a ban on gender-affirming care would prove especially damaging as the trans community in Kansas is already suffering from the effects of restrictions passed last year.

Earlier this past summer, in the ACLU of Kansas’ report about the historical and social significance of the Quindaro settlement, we talked about the aspirational Kansas we fear too many residents here have forgotten.

Due to an excessively long waitlist, Kansas inmates who await mental health treatment and evaluations could spend more time in state-run facilities than in prison if convicted.

“In general, jails are not meant to be hospitals,” Sharon Brett said. “They are not meant to be places where individuals go to receive comprehensive medical and mental health care services. And we shouldn’t be relying on that as such. It is putting a Band-Aid over a bullet hole, essentially.”

The Kansas Highway Patrol is appealing a federal injunction that will block its troopers from using the “two step” traffic stop tactic that a judge ruled had resulted in the agency violating the constitutional rights of motorists.

The ACLU of Kansas believes the state could address these socially destabilizing and anti-democratic disparities by eliminating cash bail for non-violent offenses. Pretrial incarceration caused by unaffordable bail remains one of the greatest drivers of convictions.

A federal lawsuit against Dodge City that claims unfair voting systems create a barrier for Latine candidates in the city is set to move forward. The ACLU of Kansas recently announced that the case will now go to trial on Feb. 24, 2024, in Wichita.

“Because of the court’s ruling, hundreds of people on the waitlist for Larned will continue to languish for indeterminate months in our county jails, under conditions that exacerbate rather than treat mental illness,” said Sharon Brett, Legal Director of the ACLU of Kansas

Experts who study representation have found that at-large election systems have frequently diluted the minority vote intowns and cities with significant non-White populations across the country. Shifting to what are known as “single-member districts,” can help, they say.