ACLU of Kansas responds to AG Kobach’s power grab and effort to change law after losses

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, October 2, 2025

CONTACT: Esmie Tseng, [email protected]

TOPEKA, KAN. – In response to recent reporting on Attorney General Kris Kobach’s urging lawmakers to convene a special legislative session to keep the courts from allowing transgender Kansans from changing their gender markers on driver’s licenses, Micah Kubic, ACLU of Kansas Executive Director, shared the following:

“Rather than accepting the decisions of the two highest courts in our state, Mr. Kobach is resorting to backroom attempts to change the law and shut the courts out of our government so he can have full, unchecked power. This is, simply put, a power grab by the attorney general that goes beyond his baseline of cheap political theater and wasteful litigation. The attorney general has now mixed poor sportsmanship over his recent losses with a stubbornly extremist and discriminatory agenda and made an attempt to change the law that threatens not just the privacy and agency of all Kansans but also the very checks and balances of our state government. The law, the constitution, and public opinion all come down on the side of fairness and human dignity – but Attorney General Kobach seems to swat all of that away.”

The attorney general’s efforts to change the law come the same week that the Kansas Supreme Court denied his effort to appeal a decision in Kansas v. Harper and a dismissal of his lawsuit against the governor over the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) data request.

The special session could have implications for possible redistricting efforts and would subvert the will of the people.

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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.