Kansas Statehouse clownery has torn First Amendment to shreds. Who will tape it back together?
According to Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone, a bipartisan coalition of Kansas leaders has shown unrelenting hostility to free speech since the session began this year. (iStock/Getty Images)
From the first day of 2025 Kansas legislative session, a bipartisan coalition of leaders has shown unrelenting hostility to free speech.
In proposed legislation, during hearings and through executive action, lawmakers have torn down one of our nation's foundational freedoms. That would be the right, as shared in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, to freedom of speech, assembly and religion. While advocates have been quick to protest, others have been slow to recognize the wider pattern.
That needs to change, or worse will follow.
In case anyone has forgotten the point of the First Amendment, it's to protect the right of people to share opinions that others don't agree with. You don't need constitutional protections for innocuous speech. You don't put a clause into your founding document to protect speech with which a majority agrees.
The First Amendment only matters — only has force — if it applies to the minority, or to those without hands on the levers of power.
Free speech is for transgender-rights advocates at the Statehouse. It's for the Satanic Grotto. It's for those who make lawmakers tense up and grimace when they speak in a committee. It's for those who face general social opprobrium.
Here's a list, in reverse chronological order, of affronts to the First Amendment that have occurred only this year at the Kansas Statehouse.
: 'The Kansas Senate's budget committee wants to hold $4 million hostage from the administration of Gov. Laura Kelly until state agencies proved they eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion jobs and programs as well as ended use of gender-affirming pronouns in signature blocks of employee emails.'
: 'In the counter-complaint taken up by the special committee on Thursday, (GOP Rep. Leah) Howell alleged (Democratic Rep. Ford) Carr should be reprimanded, censured or expelled by the full House for engaging in 'patterns of violent rhetoric, physical violence, intimidating behavior and derogatory language which is unbecoming of any Kansan, much less a member of the Kansas House.'
: 'Gov. Laura Kelly intervened Wednesday in satanists' plans to conduct a black mass on March 28 at the Statehouse by declaring they would not be allowed inside.'
: Rep. Susan Estes, R-Wichita, 'interrupted and admonished Rabbi Moti Rieber for saying lawmakers were prejudiced toward transgender children. She had Capitol Police forcibly remove Iridescent Roney, who shouted, with a fist in the air, 'Trans rights are human rights.' '
: 'The Kansas Senate on Wednesday passed legislation that would ban school district employees from using names or pronouns other than a minor student's corresponding biological sex or birth certificate without parental permission.'
: Senate Bill 63 'also prohibits the use of state funds for psychological treatment for transgender children, bans state employees from promoting 'social transitioning' and outlaws liability insurance for damages related to gender-affirming care.' For more on SB 63's dire free speech implications, read our story about an identical bill last year.
: New Statehouse barriers for journalists were limply justified. 'During debate Thursday over an array of new House rules, (House Speaker Dan) Hawkins said he implemented the new restrictions to give his staff a better place to sit. Previously, staff sat on a bench in front of the press box.'
: 'Hawkins banned reporting from the House chamber floor in new rules issued ahead of the legislative session, breaking from historical precedent and further exhibiting his disregard for news reporting.'
If transgender Kansans and state employees and journalists do not have free speech, no Kansan has free speech. We only have the appearance of freedom if we share an opinion that everyone loves.
Kansas leaders should be careful because their actions have played out in front of a national backdrop that shows unprecedented challenges to free expression. The Trump administration has tried to deport activist Mahmoud Khalil for his role in leading protests at Columbia University. Thus far, Khalil has not been accused of violating any law, simply expressing speech that the government disagrees with.
Trump also sued media organizations and social networks, reeling in multimillion dollar settlements in constitutionally shaky cases.
With this kind of nonsense happening across the nation, you would hope that leaders in Kansas would set an example for their constituents. They could stand up and say that we make a point of respecting everyone's right to make their voice heard, no matter the subject, no matter the controversy, no matter the person speaking.
They have shown themselves instead more interested in scoring political points and delivering body blows to the First Amendment along the way.
Now it lies bleeding inside the Statehouse, gasping for air as lobbyists and legislators step over its battered body.
Who will salve its wounds? Who will rescue our rights? Who will protect the First Amendment — and all of us besides?
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
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Roosevelt ordered the detention of Japanese-Americans on the West Coast in camps for the duration of World War II. Trump, in his first term, sparked a major fight with Capitol Hill when he issued a national emergency to compel construction of a border wall. Though Congress voted to nullify his emergency declaration, lawmakers could not muster up enough Republican support to overcome Trump's eventual veto. 'Presidents are using these emergency powers not to respond quickly to unanticipated challenges,' said John Yoo, who as a Justice Department official under George W. Bush helped expand the use of presidential authorities. 'Presidents are using it to step into a political gap because Congress chooses not to act.' Trump, Yoo said, 'has just elevated it to another level.' Conservative legal allies of the president also said Trump's actions are justified, and Vice President JD Vance predicted the administration would prevail in the court fight over tariff policy. 'We believe — and we're right — that we are in an emergency,' Vance said last week in an interview with Newsmax. 'You have seen foreign governments, sometimes our adversaries, threaten the American people with the loss of critical supplies,' Vance said. 'I'm not talking about toys, plastic toys. I'm talking about pharmaceutical ingredients. I'm talking about the critical pieces of the manufacturing supply chain.' Vance continued, 'These governments are threatening to cut us off from that stuff, that is by definition, a national emergency.' Republican and Democratic lawmakers have tried to rein in a president's emergency powers. Two years ago, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced legislation that would have ended a presidentially-declared emergency after 30 days unless Congress votes to keep it in place. It failed to advance. Similar legislation hasn't been introduced since Trump's return to office. Right now, it effectively works in the reverse, with Congress required to vote to end an emergency. 'He has proved to be so lawless and reckless in so many ways. Congress has a responsibility to make sure there's oversight and safeguards,' said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who cosponsored an emergency powers reform bill in the previous session of Congress. He argued that, historically, leaders relying on emergency declarations has been a 'path toward autocracy and suppression.'
