If the death penalty is racist, arbitrary and serves no valid penological purpose, does it violate the Kansas Constitution? The ACLU, together with the ACLU of Kansas and law firm Hogan Lovells US LLP, challenged the Kansas death penalty statute under the Kansas Constitution and United States Constitution in the case of Kansas v. Kyle Young. Mr. Young is a Black man who faced a capital trial in Sedgwick County, Kansas. Prosecutors sought a death sentence. The Sedgwick County District Court held an unprecedented evidentiary hearing in February 2023.

Dodge City’s (Kansas) at-large method of election for its city commission violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (“VRA”) by diluting the political power of the city’s Latine community. The at-large method of election also violates the Fourteenth Amendment because it is operated with a discriminatory purpose.

This case concerns whether long-term, continuous use of a surveillance camera targeted at a person’s home is a Fourth Amendment search.

Civic engagement organizations play a critical role in promoting the right to vote, including by helping people register to vote. Kansas passed a law restricting those civic engagement efforts, prohibiting organizations from sending pre-filled applications for mail ballots to voters. The Kansas law is part of a nationwide trend of restricting the right to vote by imposing burdens on civic engagement organizations.