Latest news with #KansansforConstitutionalFreedom
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Three lawsuits confirm that Kansas lawmakers concocted menacing attacks on civil rights
The Ad Astra statue atop the Kansas Statehouse takes aim against a wall of gray clouds on May 2, 2025. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) In their apparent eagerness to save money and do right by taxpayers, perhaps Kansas Republican leaders could try passing laws that don't trample on the rights of their constituents. That's my only response to lawsuits filed throughout May that highlight the downright sloppy lawmaking that has become a hallmark of our state's rushed, secretive legislative session. Bills are introduced and rubber-stamped in committee, testimony from experts is ignored, and the House and Senate send them through with nary a speed bump. Afterward, the taxpayers of Kansas have to foot the bill for any carelessness. Let's take a quick look at the lawsuits and their subjects. Up first, Kansas Reflector editor in chief Sherman Smith, who reported the following May 28. Two transgender teenagers and their parents are challenging a new Kansas law that bans gender-affirming care for minors. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and the national ACLU filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Douglas County District Court on behalf of a 16-year-old trans boy and a 13-year-old trans girl. The lawsuit argues the new law violates state constitutional rights for equal protection, personal autonomy and parenting. Senate Bill 63 prohibits health care providers from using surgery, hormones or puberty blockers to treat anyone younger than 18 who identifies with a gender that is different from the sex they were assigned at birth. Health care providers who break the law may be subject to civil penalties and stripped of their license. You can read the law here. You can read the lawsuit here. Next, Reflector reporter Anna Kaminski wrote about another lawsuit on May 19. A Kansas reproductive rights advocacy group, backed by a Washington, D.C., law firm, sued state officials over a new law banning financial contributions from 'foreign nationals' to support or oppose constitutional amendments. The group, Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, argued in a complaint filed in federal court Friday that House Bill 2106, which passed the Legislature in April and is set to go into effect July 1, is broad, vague and unconstitutional. The group said the bill inhibits its ability to advocate for or against future constitutional amendments. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom and its donors have received contributions from foreign nationals, the lawsuit said. The complaint drew a connection between HB 2106 and opposition to the 2022 ballot measure that sought to limit reproductive rights. Voters rejected the proposed constitutional amendment by a 59-41 margin. You can read the law here. You can read the lawsuit here. But wait, there's still more! Here's senior reporter Morgan Chilson on May 6. Three advocacy organizations filed a lawsuit Monday in Douglas County District Court challenging the Kansas Legislature's attempt to 'arbitrarily' reject advance ballots of voters if the mail system fails to deliver them by Election Day. Kansas Appleseed, Loud Light and Disability Rights Center of Kansas are asking the court to find Senate Bill 4 unconstitutional. Defendants are Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab and Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew. SB 4, which the Legislature passed this year, disqualifies any mail-in ballots not received by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Previously, mail-in ballots were counted if they were postmarked by Election Day and arrived within three days later. You can read the law here. You can read the lawsuit here. We covered all of these proposals at various stages, from twinkles in legislators' eyes to enshrinement in the statute books. Leaders sent the anti-trans bill to Gov. Laura Kelly as their first act of business in the 2025 session. She allowed the foreign nationals ban to become law without her signature and a warning that it 'went too far.' The advance-voting bill was called 'pure partisan politics' by former Rep. Ann Mah. Sure, the deluge of wastewater emanating from the Statehouse in 2025 may have overwhelmed at times. But none of this should have come as a surprise. If people or groups believe the government has infringed on their rights — to medical care, to advocacy, to voting — no one can be surprised if they bring legal action. When senators and representatives cast votes on such issues, they decide whether the state should place a barrier in front of the people they represent. No amount of victim blaming or sanctimonious claptrap obscures the truth. Defending the laws falls to Attorney General Kris Kobach and his office. Who pays their salaries? You and me and all the people of Kansas. We're all on the hook for legislative foolishness. The state may win some or all of these suits. So may those who filed them. Regardless, their mere presence suggests that our elected officials tread far too easily into the swamps of ideological overreaction. Rather than representing all, they have bowed and scraped in service to a hateful few. We will see the consequences play out before judges in the months ahead. 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.
Hamilton Spectator
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Kansas group fights campaign donor law it sees as a response to its success defending abortion
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A group that successfully defeated an anti-abortion ballot measure in Kansas has filed a federal lawsuit against a new state law aimed at curbing foreign influence in elections, saying it violates free speech rights and would keep the group from waging future campaigns. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom argues that the law taking effect July 1 is a direct response to the decisive August 2022 statewide vote against a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have allowed the Legislature to greatly restrict or ban abortion. The group led the 'no' campaign, and its largest single donor was the Sixteen Thirty Fund, tied to Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire who lives in Wyoming and finances liberal causes. The Kansas group filed its lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Kansas. 'Kansas has adopted a series of impermissibly restrictive, overbroad and vague restrictions on issue-advocacy speech that will unconstitutionally impede public debates about some of the most important policy issues of our time,' the lawsuit said. The law will take effect less than a year after Ohio moved to block foreign money in its elections. Kansas lawmakers heard committee testimony earlier this year from Ohio's Republican secretary of state, Frank LaRose, along with conservative groups, and they mentioned Wyss by name as an example of why Kansas should enact its own law. Two groups and three individuals filed to suit to challenge Ohio's law almost immediately, but in October, a federal appeals court allowed Ohio to enforce it ahead of a trial of that lawsuit. Federal law bars foreign nationals from contributing to campaigns or political committees. But the new Kansas law will bar groups campaigning for or against proposed amendments to the state constitution from accepting contributions 'directly or indirectly' from foreign nationals. The groups also will have to certify that no named donors received more than $100,000 from a foreign national during the previous four years, and groups violating the law can be barred from electioneering for four years. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom said it wants to raise money for a campaign in 2026 against a proposal from Republicans to amend the state constitution to end the governor's appointment of state Supreme Court justices and have them elected instead. The group sees the measure as attacking the courts' independence. The group raised almost $11 million for its effort to defeat the anti-abortion ballot question in 2022, and nearly $1.5 million came from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, campaign finance reports show. The new Kansas law passed the Republican-controlled Legislature with more than the two-thirds majority required to override a veto. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said the measure 'goes too far,' but let it become law without her signature. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican named as a defendant in the lawsuit along with state ethics commission members, noted the law's bipartisan support. 'Republicans and Democrats agree that foreign corporations and foreign citizens must not be allowed to influence the outcome when Kansas constitutional amendments are placed before voters,' Kobach said in a statement Monday. 'It is a core principle of self-government.' In allowing Ohio to enforce its law, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said concerns about foreign influence in elections 'date back to the Founding,' citing first President George Washington's Farewell Address. 'And Ohioans and their representatives have a compelling interest in regulating such influence,' the appeals court majority said. But the Kansas law's restrictions fall on advocacy groups in prohibiting them from accepting federal funds. Also, groups must avoid donations even from U.S. citizens if they've received enough foreign funds — restricting their free speech rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well, the lawsuit argues. 'There is no reason why a donor should have to provide detailed and confidential information about its own funding sources,' the lawsuit said.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kansas group fights campaign donor law it sees as a response to its success defending abortion
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A group that successfully defeated an anti-abortion ballot measure in Kansas has filed a federal lawsuit against a new state law aimed at curbing foreign influence in elections, saying it violates free speech rights and would keep the group from waging future campaigns. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom argues that the law taking effect July 1 is a direct response to the decisive August 2022 statewide vote against a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have allowed the Legislature to greatly restrict or ban abortion. The group led the 'no' campaign, and its largest single donor was the Sixteen Thirty Fund, tied to Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire who lives in Wyoming and finances liberal causes. The Kansas group filed its lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Kansas. 'Kansas has adopted a series of impermissibly restrictive, overbroad and vague restrictions on issue-advocacy speech that will unconstitutionally impede public debates about some of the most important policy issues of our time,' the lawsuit said. The law will take effect less than a year after Ohio moved to block foreign money in its elections. Kansas lawmakers heard committee testimony earlier this year from Ohio's Republican secretary of state, Frank LaRose, along with conservative groups, and they mentioned Wyss by name as an example of why Kansas should enact its own law. Two groups and three individuals filed to suit to challenge Ohio's law almost immediately, but in October, a federal appeals court allowed Ohio to enforce it ahead of a trial of that lawsuit. Federal law bars foreign nationals from contributing to campaigns or political committees. But the new Kansas law will bar groups campaigning for or against proposed amendments to the state constitution from accepting contributions 'directly or indirectly' from foreign nationals. The groups also will have to certify that no named donors received more than $100,000 from a foreign national during the previous four years, and groups violating the law can be barred from electioneering for four years. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom said it wants to raise money for a campaign in 2026 against a proposal from Republicans to amend the state constitution to end the governor's appointment of state Supreme Court justices and have them elected instead. The group sees the measure as attacking the courts' independence. The group raised almost $11 million for its effort to defeat the anti-abortion ballot question in 2022, and nearly $1.5 million came from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, campaign finance reports show. The new Kansas law passed the Republican-controlled Legislature with more than the two-thirds majority required to override a veto. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said the measure 'goes too far,' but let it become law without her signature. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican named as a defendant in the lawsuit along with state ethics commission members, noted the law's bipartisan support. 'Republicans and Democrats agree that foreign corporations and foreign citizens must not be allowed to influence the outcome when Kansas constitutional amendments are placed before voters,' Kobach said in a statement Monday. 'It is a core principle of self-government.' In allowing Ohio to enforce its law, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said concerns about foreign influence in elections 'date back to the Founding,' citing first President George Washington's Farewell Address. 'And Ohioans and their representatives have a compelling interest in regulating such influence,' the appeals court majority said. But the Kansas law's restrictions fall on advocacy groups in prohibiting them from accepting federal funds. Also, groups must avoid donations even from U.S. citizens if they've received enough foreign funds — restricting their free speech rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well, the lawsuit argues. 'There is no reason why a donor should have to provide detailed and confidential information about its own funding sources,' the lawsuit said.
Winnipeg Free Press
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Kansas group fights campaign donor law it sees as a response to its success defending abortion
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A group that successfully defeated an anti-abortion ballot measure in Kansas has filed a federal lawsuit against a new state law aimed at curbing foreign influence in elections, saying it violates free speech rights and would keep the group from waging future campaigns. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom argues that the law taking effect July 1 is a direct response to the decisive August 2022 statewide vote against a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have allowed the Legislature to greatly restrict or ban abortion. The group led the 'no' campaign, and its largest single donor was the Sixteen Thirty Fund, tied to Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire who lives in Wyoming and finances liberal causes. The Kansas group filed its lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Kansas. 'Kansas has adopted a series of impermissibly restrictive, overbroad and vague restrictions on issue-advocacy speech that will unconstitutionally impede public debates about some of the most important policy issues of our time,' the lawsuit said. The law will take effect less than a year after Ohio moved to block foreign money in its elections. Kansas lawmakers heard committee testimony earlier this year from Ohio's Republican secretary of state, Frank LaRose, along with conservative groups, and they mentioned Wyss by name as an example of why Kansas should enact its own law. Two groups and three individuals filed to suit to challenge Ohio's law almost immediately, but in October, a federal appeals court allowed Ohio to enforce it ahead of a trial of that lawsuit. Federal law bars foreign nationals from contributing to campaigns or political committees. But the new Kansas law will bar groups campaigning for or against proposed amendments to the state constitution from accepting contributions 'directly or indirectly' from foreign nationals. The groups also will have to certify that no named donors received more than $100,000 from a foreign national during the previous four years, and groups violating the law can be barred from electioneering for four years. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom said it wants to raise money for a campaign in 2026 against a proposal from Republicans to amend the state constitution to end the governor's appointment of state Supreme Court justices and have them elected instead. The group sees the measure as attacking the courts' independence. The group raised almost $11 million for its effort to defeat the anti-abortion ballot question in 2022, and nearly $1.5 million came from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, campaign finance reports show. The new Kansas law passed the Republican-controlled Legislature with more than the two-thirds majority required to override a veto. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said the measure 'goes too far,' but let it become law without her signature. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican named as a defendant in the lawsuit along with state ethics commission members, noted the law's bipartisan support. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. 'Republicans and Democrats agree that foreign corporations and foreign citizens must not be allowed to influence the outcome when Kansas constitutional amendments are placed before voters,' Kobach said in a statement Monday. 'It is a core principle of self-government.' In allowing Ohio to enforce its law, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said concerns about foreign influence in elections 'date back to the Founding,' citing first President George Washington's Farewell Address. 'And Ohioans and their representatives have a compelling interest in regulating such influence,' the appeals court majority said. But the Kansas law's restrictions fall on advocacy groups in prohibiting them from accepting federal funds. Also, groups must avoid donations even from U.S. citizens if they've received enough foreign funds — restricting their free speech rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well, the lawsuit argues. 'There is no reason why a donor should have to provide detailed and confidential information about its own funding sources,' the lawsuit said.
Toronto Star
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Kansas group fights campaign donor law it sees as a response to its success defending abortion
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A group that successfully defeated an anti-abortion ballot measure in Kansas has filed a federal lawsuit against a new state law aimed at curbing foreign influence in elections, saying it violates free speech rights and would keep the group from waging future campaigns. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom argues that the law taking effect July 1 is a direct response to the decisive August 2022 statewide vote against a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have allowed the Legislature to greatly restrict or ban abortion. The group led the 'no' campaign, and its largest single donor was the Sixteen Thirty Fund, tied to Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire who lives in Wyoming and finances liberal causes.
