Category: Forum
Updated on September 10, 2024
Partisan Ping-Pong – President Biden and Private Prisons
President Joe Biden was sworn in on January 20, 2021. Soon after, he signed a flurry of executive orders, four of which were specifically targeted at “increas[ing] racial equity in the US.”[1] One of these executive orders is …
Updated on September 10, 2024
When the Right to Protest is Not Created Equal
By now, everyone has seen coverage of the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The largely ceremonial certification of election results became violent when protestors-turned-rioters broke into the Capitol building. They overturned barricades, smashed windows, and …
Updated on September 10, 2024
Selective Mercy – Clemency and the Holiday Season
President Trump’s recent pardons of Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner, and four former military contractors drew headlines, but the President is not the only executive wielding pardon power.[1] In December 2020, multiple Governors granted clemency in …
Updated on September 10, 2024
2020 Election Sees Oregon Take a Bold New Step in Decriminalizing Hard Drug Possession. Will Other States Follow?
While the 2020 election has been dominated by talk of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, other victories garnered headlines. On November 4, 2020, Oregon, the first state in the country to decriminalize marijuana possession in 1973, became the first …
Updated on September 10, 2024
Breonna Taylor’s Murder: When Legal Definitions Don’t Reflect Reality
While many people have heard, and been outraged by, the legal outcomes of Breonna Taylor’s death, some may be wondering, what does all this mean? When a person is shot in their own home, how is that not …
Updated on September 10, 2024
Local Governments Act When States and the Federal Government Refuse to Lower Penalties for Small Drug Offenses
Currently 33 states allow some form of medical marijuana, and 11 states allow some form of recreational marijuana.[1] Kansas Governor Laura Kelly announced that she would support a law allowing Kansas to join those states allowing medical marijuana …
Updated on September 10, 2024
Qualified Immunity Undermines Civil Rights Claims, But the Supreme Court Won’t Hear It
At the end of the 2019–2020 term, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear seven cases related to qualified immunity, a doctrine that shields governmental officials from liability in civil actions brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. …
Updated on September 10, 2024
Social Distancing Forces Modernization of Kansas Notary Laws
Disclaimer: Executive Order No. 20-20 authorizes virtual notarizations until May 1, 2020, or until the State of Disaster Emergency related to COVID-19 expires in Kansas, whichever is earlier. On April 15, 2020, however, Governor Kelly signed Executive Order …
Updated on September 10, 2024
Voting in Kansas Under COVID-19: How a 2019 Elections Bill Could Offer Protections
Governor Kelly signed into law amendments to the election process in Kansas on April 15, 2019. [efn_note] http://www/kslegislature.org/li/b2019_20/measures/SB130/. [/efn_note] The law expands certain protections to voters who vote by advance ballot and increases access to polling places. [efn_note] …
Updated on September 10, 2024
Betting on Which Kansas Sports Wagering Bill Will Pass
Kansas is currently considering two different bills to legalize sports wagering. The introduction of these bills comes in wake of the landmark Supreme Court case Murphy v. NCAA in 2018. [efn_note] 138 S. Ct. 1461 (2018). [/efn_note] In …
