10th Circuit Court of Appeals Declares Kansas Highway Patrol’s Practices Unlawful

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 29, 2026

CONTACT: Esmie Tseng, [email protected]

Kansas – The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision Thursday in Shaw v. Jones, affirming a district court’s finding that the Kansas Highway Patrol violated drivers’ constitutional rights.

“Motorists in Kansas and across the country are entitled to expect law enforcement to comply with the Constitution,” said Patrick McInerney, Partner of Spencer Fane White Collar and Government Investigations. “The Court’s decision today demands it, and we are proud to have been part of the effort to hold the KHP accountable.”

“Despite repeated warnings from the Tenth Circuit, the Kansas Highway Patrol has continued to unconstitutionally target out-of-state drivers for suspicionless roadside detentions,” said Brian Hauss, Deputy Director of the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “The court made clear today that it has run out of patience. KHP needs to bring its war on drivers to an end and start complying with the Fourth Amendment.”

“This decision is a win for our clients and for the Fourth Amendment,” said Monica Bennett, Legal Director of the ACLU of Kansas. “The Court’s message to the KHP is clear: it has been violating the law and must train its troopers to obey the law. We remain adamant that troopers must observe and respect the rights of all people traveling Kansas highways.”

The 10th Circuit affirmed the verdicts issued by juries and a district court judge that KHP policies and practices violated the Constitution. The court also affirmed the district court’s instruction to KHP to revise its training and instructions to officers. The appeals court reversed in part other remedial measures ordered by the district court for KHP to correct its insufficient training and practices. It called for the district court’s injunction to be revised in order to halt unconstitutional practices by KHP.

Shaw was filed in 2020 by the ACLU of Kansas and Spencer Fane LLP, challenging the Kansas Highway Patrol’s practices of unconstitutionally targeting motorists with out-of-state plates traveling to and from Colorado and routinely employing the infamous “Kansas Two-Step.”

The Kansas Two-Step is a tactic employed by troopers of the Kansas Highway Patrol to complete a traffic stop, then re-engage the driver in conversation in an effort to begin a consensual interaction for additional questioning. The objective of the questioning is to develop reasonable suspicion in order to extend the detention of the driver, search the car, or call a drug dog to sniff the car for contraband.

Previous 10th Circuit precedent, specifically under Vasquez v. Lewis, held that under the Fourth Amendment, an individual’s state of residency was not permissible justification to continue a traffic stop and that travel along I-70 could not be used as a basis for reasonable suspicion. While Vasquez became effective in 2016, the KHP did not adjust its training until after the ACLU filed Shaw in 2020. The 10th Circuit was unsparing in its criticism of KHP for failing to follow the Vasquez ruling and permitting an individual’s state of residency to be the basis for a traffic stop.

In all three of the stops in question in Shaw, the troopers used travel plans to generate reasonable suspicion and implemented the Two-Step. Troopers also testified that they have a practice of using a driver’s state of origin to establish reasonable suspicion.

Expert statistical analysis found out-of-state drivers comprised only roughly 35 percent of drivers on the road, but were significantly overrepresented among traffic stops by KHP (77 percent) and canine searches (90 percent).

The district court bifurcated the case in 2023, allowing for two separate jury trials over Mr. Shaw and Mr. Bosire’s individual damages claims. The juries found in favor of Mr. Shaw and Mr. Bosire for the violation to their rights in their individual stops. The district court held a separate bench trial in May 2023 on the plaintiffs’ joint claims for injunctive and declaratory relief against Col. Herman Jones, KHP Superintendent. After the district court ruled against the KHP and ordered it to stop its unconstitutional practices, KHP appealed the verdict. Oral argument was held before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in November 2024.

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About the ACLU of Kansas: The ACLU of Kansas is the statewide affiliate of the national American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU of Kansas is dedicated to preserving and advancing the civil rights and legal freedoms guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. For more information, visit our website at www.aclukansas.org.