Kobach sues Kelly administration to block Kansans from changing gender on driver's licenses

Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach has sued Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's administration, asking a judge to order the state to ban transgender Kansans from changing their gender markers on driver's licenses.

Kobach argues the Kansas Department of Revenue is flouting a new law, dubbed the Women's Bill of Rights, designed to record people's data in strict biological terms.

"The Governor cannot pick and choose which laws she will enforce and which laws she will ignore," Kobach said.

“While the Attorney General has a well-documented record of wasteful and political lawsuits, Governor Kelly is faithfully executing the laws of the state and has directed her administration to as well," said Kelly spokesperson Brianna Johnson. "We look forward to the Kansas Department of Revenue being able to present its case in court.”

Kobach filed the lawsuit Friday morning in Shawnee County District Court, listing as defendants David Harper, the Revenue Department's director of vehicles, and Revenue Secretary Mark Burghart. The case was assigned to Judge Teresa Watson, whom Kobach asked for a temporary injunction and an immediate restraining order.

The petition for mandamus and injunctive relief does not address the separate issue of gender markers on birth certificates. The Kelly administration still allows transgender people to change the gender on their birth certificate through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment's office of vital statistics.

The state is currently under a federal court order in a previous case to allow people to change their birth certificates. Kobach has asked the federal court to reopen the case and amend the consent decree.

The legal showdown is the first time the two have clashed in court since Kobach was sworn in earlier this year and it comes after weeks of uncertainty over the effects of Senate Bill 180, enacted by lawmakers over Kelly's veto in April. The first-in-the-nation law strictly defines sex in biological terms, a move that transgender rights activists say erases their community.

While there were concerns the measure would impact the use of public facilities, the most sweeping consequence to date is over whether residents can change the gender listed on their core identification documents. Before the law went into effect July 1, LGBTQ+ advocates had urged transgender Kansans to change their gender markers.

Late last month, Kobach said at a press conference that he believed the state would need to effectively revert birth certificates and driver's licenses back to the sex assigned at birth for all state residents. While a print document would not need to be surrendered, Kobach said the internal data for KDOR, which handles driver's license renewals, and KDHE, which collects vital statistics, would need to be updated.

But Kelly said her administration disagreed with Kobach's interpretations of the law. The two agencies, she said, had deemed it would not implicate gender markers and that the state would continue to allow for the changes.

"She does not possess the power that English monarchs claimed prior to the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688," Kobach wrote in the lawsuit, which also references the Declaration of Independence and President John Adams.

"Thus, the Attorney General reluctantly brings this action to force the Governor's subordinates (those in the Division of Vehicles) 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 assigned at birth and stop letting people select their sex designation at will," Kobach wrote. "Someone must stand up for the law, even if the Governor won't."

Jason Alatidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jtidd@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kris Kobach sues Laura Kelly’s agency on Kansas trans drivers licenses