News & Commentary

A leading Kansas civil rights organization says an estimated 30,000 people living in the state should be informed they have the right to vote. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas launched a campaign to reach out to Kansans with felony records and encourage them to register to vote.

The ACLU of Kansas says that around 30,000 Kansans who have completed their sentences for felony convictions are unaware that they have the right to vote. To that end, a new effort has been launched to inform them of their restored voting rights, recruit volunteers and to get more voters to vote.

An 8-year-old Native American boy in Kansas was forced to cut his hair to comply with his elementary school’s hair policy, according to the Kansas American Civil Liberties Union, which called the policy “discriminatory.”

The ACLU had argued the “two-step” was used to target drivers coming from or heading to states where marijuana is legal, despite previous court rulings limiting how police can use information about a vehicle’s origin and destination.

The ACLU wrote that the school’s policy has the potential to “disproportionately impact Native American students.” The ACLU also alleged that the policy could constitute sex discrimination.

The American Civil Liberties Union condemned a southeast Kansas school district Friday for forcing an 8-year-old Native American boy to cut his long hair despite long hair being integral to his faith and culture.

An 8-year-old Native American boy who had grown out his hair to honor his ancestry was made to get a haircut after being threatened with suspension from school, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas said.

The new Monday filing from the ACLU of Kansas sets the stage for a January hearing in Shawnee County District Court on a July request from Attorney General Kris Kobach for a temporary injunction to continue blocking gender marker changes.

Sharon Brett, legal director of ACLU of Kansas, argued in a 60-page document submitted to the Shawnee County District Court that Attorney General Kris Kobach’s mistaken interpretation of how a new state law applied to driver’s licenses could result in violation of rights.