Laura Kelly wants to defend Kansas law vs. DOJ after Kris Kobach won't

Gov. Laura Kelly wants to defend a Kansas law that Attorney General Kris Kobach decided not to defend in a lawsuit by President Donald Trump's Department of Justice.

Kelly filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit, which the governor's office said is "to provide the state with the defense it deserves."

The move comes after Kobach decided not to defend the law. He joined Trump's DOJ in a proposed consent judgment, which was filed hours after the lawsuit was filed June 24, that would have a judge declare the law invalid and permanently block the state from enforcing it.

"Today, the Attorney General entered a filing indicating his unwillingness to defend a law that has been in effect for over two decades," Kelly said in a statement. "Since he is refusing to stand up for Kansas law, I have filed a motion to intervene to ensure all Kansas children have the opportunity to pursue an education, become contributing members of society, and a benefit to our economy."

The law at issue allows college students to receive in-state tuition benefits if they have attended an accredited Kansas high school for at least three years or earned a GED in Kansas, regardless of whether they are a citizen. If a noncitizen student is not legally in the U.S., they may qualify for in-state tuition as long as they are seeking legal status.

"When a state law is clearly preempted by federal law, settlement is the best option for the state," Kobach said in a statement to The Capital-Journal. "Giving in-state tuition to illegal aliens has been illegal under federal law since 1996."

At Kobach's urging, the Republican-led Legislature attempted to repeal the law earlier this year, but with Republicans divided on the issue, the GOP supermajorities did not attempt to override a veto by the Democratic governor.

Kelly argues that Kobach refusing to defend the law is contrary to the will of the Legislature and governor, "disregards the democratic process" and is an attempt "to backdoor-legislate through non-adversarial litigation."

When he was running for attorney general in 2022, Kobach promised to defend all state laws.

"Playing defense is the number one job of the attorney general's office … You defend every single statute, no matter what, that the Legislature passes," Kobach said at a campaign event in Topeka. "I'm pledging to you I will defend every statute, even if I would not have voted for it if I were in the Legislature."

He said at the time that refusing to defend a law would mean "effectively a statute has been erased without a vote of the people's representatives and so our entire representative system collapses and the rule of law collapses."

Kobach is again being challenged in this year's elections by Democrat Chris Mann.

"The job of the Attorney General is to defend the state of Kansas, not roll over for the federal government," Mann said in a statement. "If the DOJ wants to claim that a Kansas law is unconstitutional, they need to prove it in court. Kansas's top lawyer should represent and defend Kansas, not the federal government."

Kelly's legal authority to defend the law is unclear after the Kansas Supreme Court punted on a similar question earlier this year.

A series of legal disagreements between the Democratic governor and Republican attorney general culminated in Kelly suing Kobach. The case sought to settle which of the two state officials has the authority to represent Kansans in litigation, especially against the Trump administration.

The Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the case on March 27 without resolving the dispute.

"We take pains to emphasize that today's decision neither attempts to resolve nor draws any conclusion about which official or officials in Kansas have the constitutional authority to speak for the State of Kansas in court," Justice Caleb Stegall wrote for the majority.

In statements afterward, Kobach and Kelly each viewed the ruling as a win and had different interpretations of what it meant.

The ruling suggests that whether it is the governor or attorney general - or both - who represents Kansans depends on the facts of the situation.

If the party is the State of Kansas, Kobach presumably is in charge of any litigation. If the party is the governor's office or a state agency under her, then Kelly presumably is in charge. But the court offered no guidance for drawing the line on where a state agency's legal interests end and the State of Kansas's legal interests begin.

In DOJ's lawsuit, the defendant is listed as the State of Kansas. But Kobach's proposed consent judgment would apply to "the State of Kansas as well as its officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and those in active concert or participation with them."

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Laura Kelly wants to defend Kansas law vs. DOJ after Kris Kobach won't

Reporting by Jason Alatidd, Topeka Capital-Journal / Topeka Capital-Journal

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This story was originally published June 25, 2026 at 4:10 AM.