A Kansas judge has granted Governor Laura Kelly’s motion to dismiss Attorney General Kris Kobach’s lawsuit about certain state data going to the US Department of Agriculture.
Kobach had sued Kelly and the Kansas Department for Children and Families, trying to get DCF to submit Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program data to USDA after an executive order to that effect from President Donald Trump earlier this year. Kelly says the lawsuit amounted to “low-rent political theater, wasting taxpayer dollars and spreading misinformation.” She says Kobach’s claims of the state losing over $10 million in administrative funding were false, saying DCF filed an appeal with USDA after the federal government rejected its Corrective Action Proposal, thus halting the withholding process and allowing SNAP to operate as normal.
Kobach hasn’t officially responded.
Kobach is, however, celebrating a Kansas Supreme Court decision upholding a Kansas law that lets workers refuse COVID-19 vaccines on religious grounds. The law, passed as part of a special session four years ago, lets employees seek religious exemptions through written waiver requests. Powerback Rehabilitation had sought a judicial review of a Kansas Department of Labor statement, saying state law did not align with federal law at that time.
