Constitution

Voters in both Kansas and Missouri have chosen to protect reproductive rights in their state constitutions. So why are abortion rights advocates challenging both states in court? We’ll have the latest on pending legal battles and the state of the abortion debate in the region.

Thousands of students in third-grade classrooms across the county participated in this year’s Constitution Day mock trial to learn about civics, but the event got its start in Olathe.

Missouri's legislature passed not one but two measures on Friday taking aim at voting rights. In addition to the gerrymandered congressional map, a proposal you might not have have heard much about would heavily restrict citizen-led constitutional amendments.

Redistricting critics warn that efforts to redraw maps mid-decade risks fueling further gridlock in Congress, and ceding more power to the executive and judicial branches. Missouri Republicans appear ready to jump into the gerrymandering game.

In his new book "No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States," legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky contends that it's high time to hold a new constitutional convention.

The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday reaffirmed that abortion rights are protected by the state constitution, and that lawmakers seeking to restrict abortion must meet a high “strict scrutiny” test. It was a decision that cemented Kansas' role as a key abortion access point for patients across the broader region.

Senate Democrats staged an all-night talk-a-thon that continues into Tuesday afternoon, just days before the legislature is slated to adjourn for the year. They're hoping to block a Republican resolution raising the threshold for voters to approve initiative petitions like the upcoming abortion rights amendment.

For nearly 30 hours, the conservative faction has blocked a vote on Medicaid funding, demanding that the Missouri Senate passes an unrelated resolution making it harder to amend the constitution. The Federal Reimbursement Allowance accounts for roughly a third of the funding for the state Medicaid system.

Currently, a simple majority of votes is needed to pass a proposed constitutional amendment once it makes it onto the ballot. The proposed resolution would increase that threshold to both a simple majority of votes and the majority of Missouri’s eight congressional districts — but the bill also includes unrelated "ballot candy."

The two-page proposal states that beginning in the 2026 federal elections, a candidate running to represent a congressional district in Missouri may do so only if they live in that district. But it may violate the U.S. Constitution.

The Republican resolution would ask voters whether it should be harder to amend Missouri’s constitution through the initiative petition process. It comes as Missouri groups collect signatures for a ballot initiative protecting abortion rights.

Ballot initiatives are one way for voters to assert their power over the political whims of Missouri's state legislature or courts. They are often viewed as more stable and harder to undo.