Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach is suing to prevent Gov. Laura Kelly (D-KS) from blocking the effects of a new law passed by the Republican legislature barring Kansans who identify as transgender from making changes to birth certificates and driver’s licenses.
Kobach filed a lawsuit in state court on Friday after Kelly’s administration announced some measures of the “Women’s Bill of Rights” would not be followed after going into effect July 1.
INSIDE THE PENTAGON OFFICE LEADING UFO INVESTIGATIONS
“The Governor cannot pick and choose which laws she will enforce and which laws she will ignore,” the lawsuit filed in state district court in Shawnee County reads.
Last month, Kobach outlined his plan to ban people from changing their listed gender on birth certificates. The Republican attorney general asked a federal judge to allow state officials to bar transgender people from changing their gender on their birth certificate and driver’s license.
On June 26, Kobach issued an advisory opinion outlining how the state agencies should implement a law passed by the Kansas legislature.
The new law defines a person’s sex as male or female based on the “biological reproductive system” identified at birth, applying that definition to any state law or regulation.
Kobach argued that these provisions are affected by Kansas’s latest transgender bathroom law, which Republican legislators passed last month, overriding the Democratic governor’s veto of the measure.
Kelly said the bill’s language is broad enough to apply to any separate spaces for men and women and vetoed three additional bills regarding transgender issues in April. However, the GOP-led state legislature pushed the bill through.
“By stripping away rights from Kansans and opening the state up to expensive and unnecessary lawsuits, these bills would hurt our ability to continue breaking economic records and landing new business deals,” Kelly said in a press statement, noting the bill would harm businesses.
While Senate Bill 180 took effect at the beginning of July, Kelly and other agencies said Kansanas can continue to update their documents despite the new law.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Department of Revenue have disagreed with Kobach’s opinion, and Kelly issued a statement saying they “will instead keep in place their policies regarding gender markers on birth certificates and driver’s licenses” to CNN.
Following that announcement, Kobach tweeted Kelly is “violating her oath of office to uphold Kansas law.”
“We will see her in court,” he added.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Kobach’s lawsuit urges the Democratic governor and other officials “to do what the Women’s Bill of Rights clearly tells them they must do: issue driver’s licenses that reflect a person’s sex at birth and stop letting people select their sex designation at will.”
“Someone must stand up for the law, even if the Governor won’t,” the lawsuit reads.
