Tag Archives: Derek Schmidt

NBC News reports: Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has won re-election to a second term, NBC News projects, defeating Republican challenger Derek Schmidt. Kelly was the only Democratic governor running for re-election in a state won by Donald Trump in 2020. Her win keeps a Democrat in the top job in ruby red Kansas for another four years. Her narrow victory …

Fox News reports: A federal court in Kansas issued a temporary restraining order Saturday against an executive order capping church gatherings at 10 people due to COVID-19, according to a local report. The move came a week after the Supreme Court of Kansas ruled in favor of Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat who saw her order overturned by a GOP-led …

Via the Wichita Eagle: The lawyer who successfully sued to overturn Kansas’ ban on same-sex marriage in federal court now plans to amend the lawsuit in order to force state agencies to grant marriage benefits to same-sex couples. Same-sex couples in Kansas can get marriage licenses from Sedgwick and other counties and use those licenses to marry anywhere in the …

Not only has South Carolina joined the states displaying our favorite color, Wikipedia’s marriage monitors have decided to remove the red stripes of shame from Kansas even though most counties continue to withhold marriage licenses and state agencies continue to refuse to recognize the marriages that have taken place. Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration will not make any policy changes to …

Via the Associated Press: The Kansas Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for additional gay marriages in the state’s most populous county while declaring that it would defer to the federal courts on whether Kansas’ ban on same-sex marriages is constitutional. The Kansas court also declined to say whether all of the state’s 105 counties fall under a U.S. Supreme …

Same-sex marriages commenced yesterday in Kansas following the three-day waiting period that began on Thursday. However nearly 100 of the state’s 105 counties continue to refuse gay couples as state Attorney General Derek Schmidt presses his claim that last week’s ruling only applies to two counties. Therefore, Wikipedia’s marriage map monitor has regressed his map and applied the red stripes …

Via the Wichita Eagle: Despite vocal opposition and freezing temperatures, Monday was a day for Kansas history textbooks. On the front steps of the Historic County Courthouse in downtown Wichita, 15 same-sex couples proclaimed their love for one another and were legally married. There were cheers of affirmation, but there also was opposition. At the beginning of the mass ceremony, …

See the full petition.

“We call on Governor Sam Brownback to reject the idea that Kansas must abandon marriage because out of control federal judges say so. We urge Governor Brownback to use his authority to order local clerks to refuse to issue marriage licenses in violation of state law, as affirmed by the Supreme Court, in recognition that the state courts are not …

Marriage licenses are being issued today in a handful of the 103 Kansas counties. Judges in at least four Kansas counties were issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples a day after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing them to wed. Clerks in other counties were giving applications to gay couples but requiring them to abide by the state’s …

Via the Associated Press: The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request Wednesday from Kansas to prevent gay and lesbian couples from marrying while the state fights the issue in court. Schmidt says that decision applies only in Douglas, a northeastern Kansas county, and Sedgwick, in south-central Kansas, where the court clerks are defendants. The American Civil Liberties Union contends the …

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt today asked the state Supreme Court to block same-sex marriage licenses in Johnson County.  A lawsuit demanding that Kansas recognize out-of-state marriages was filed in December 2013, but there is presently no challenge to the Kansas ban itself. Schmidt argues that Chief District Judge Kevin Moriarty exceeded his authority when he directed the court clerk …