Kansas Supreme Court Denies AG Kobach Review in Appeal over Gender Markers on Drivers Licenses

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, October 2, 2025

CONTACT:
Gillian Branstetter, Communications Strategist, ACLU, [email protected]
Esmie Tseng, Communications Director, ACLU of Kansas, [email protected]

TOPEKA, KAN. – The Kansas Supreme Court this week denied Attorney General Kris Kobach’s request to keep in place a district court order preventing transgender Kansans from getting driver’s licenses with accurate gender markers. Earlier this year, the Kansas Court of Appeals had issued a decision protecting transgender Kansans’ rights, which the attorney general had appealed. This week’s denial of that appeal means that the decision can go into effect Monday, October 6. At that time, the Kansas Department of Revenue (KDOR) can legally resume making gender changes on driver’s licenses, although KDOR has not yet confirmed when it will begin doing so.

“We know that accurate gender markers are a matter of safety and well-being for transgender Kansans,” said Julie Murray, Co-Director of the ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative. “The Kansas Supreme Court’s decision this week will finally bring an end to nearly two years of government intrusion on trans Kansans’ privacy and put a stop to the attorney general’s efforts to forcibly out people in their daily lives.”

“We look forward to KDOR resuming gender-marker changes on driver’s licenses at the earliest possible time,” said Monica Bennett, Legal Director of the ACLU of Kansas. “The ACLU of Kansas will work to update the local community as soon as more information becomes available, and we look forward to litigating the rest of this case for a final favorable outcome for all transgender Kansans.”

The decision this week allows the Kansas Court of Appeals’ decision in June to go into effect in Kansas v. Harper. The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel lifted the trial court’s injunction that had prevented transgender people from changing the gender markers on their driver’s licenses to reflect their gender identity. The Court of Appeals observed that there was no evidence “beyond mere speculation” to support the trial court’s finding that allowing transgender people to change their gender markers would somehow impair the identification of criminal suspects. The Court of Appeals also held AG Kobach had not shown a substantial likelihood of prevailing on his view that S.B. 180, a state statute that defines “biological sex” for some purposes, requires all new and renewed driver’s licenses to list the driver’s sex assigned at birth.

With the Kansas Supreme Court’s decision this week, the case will now return to a new trial court for final resolution. In 2024, the ACLU of Kansas, the ACLU, and Stinson LLP successfully intervened in the case on behalf of transgender Kansans threatened by the Attorney General’s lawsuit against KDOR.

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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.