News & Commentary

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas is crediting research from experts at Wharton and Princeton with helping to win its federal court case against the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) over unconstitutional treatment of out-of-state drivers.

The ACLU of Kansas and nine other organizations have been calling on Wyandotte County Election Commissioner Michael Abbott to provide ballots in languages other than English to accommodate the county’s growing minority population.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas is crediting research from experts at Wharton and Princeton with helping to win its federal court case against the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) over unconstitutional treatment of out-of-state drivers.

The ACLU of Kansas says that 10 agencies and organizations in Wyandotte Co. are surprised and disappointed after Election Commissioner Michael Abbott denied a meeting to discuss the need for better language access and early voting this season.

“We were certainly surprised by this denial,” said Leslie Butsch, field organizing director of ACLU of Kansas. “It’s not often that this many organizations and community groups come together on an issue and ask for the same thing.”

A recent report on statewide election policies by the ACLU of Kansas found that between the 2018 and 2022 elections, Wyandotte’s turnout dropped 10.81% — more than twice the statewide average. Our community and our democracy require better of us.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas said in a statement that it was glad the commission realized allowing CoreCivic to house ICE detainees “would be an unsafe, inhumane decision.”

“As described in our letter, CoreCivic is plainly unable to run a facility that meets even the bare minimum standards afforded by our Constitution,” said Sharon Brett, Legal Director of the ACLU of Kansas. “CoreCivic demonstrated a consistent and deliberate indifference to mitigating the dangerous and unconstitutional conditions in the Leavenworth facility, as it has elsewhere in the country. The Leavenworth Government should not invite CoreCivic back to once again abuse individuals’ human and civil rights. The constitutional imperatives that CoreCivic is incapable of following remain, and we urge the Commission to reject their bid to get back in business in Kansas.”

The reform prosecution movement faces a critical moment. With the recent uptick in violent crime, reform prosecutors face unprecedented attacks and calls for a return to “tough-on-crime” tactics. Those attacks rest on the false belief that criminal legal system reforms endanger public safety. To sustain the movement, reform prosecutors must build the case that their approach will make communities safer, and the Vera Institute of Justice’s (Vera’s) Reshaping Prosecution initiative is well-positioned to help them do so.