Tenants Block Jackson County Courthouse, Shut Down Much of Eviction Docket

Protesters with KC Tenants came armed with signs outside the Jackson County Courthouse in downtown Kansas City on Thursday. Shelly Yang syang@kcstar.com

Kansas City tenants chained themselves to the doors of the Jackson County Courthouse downtown Thursday morning and shut down virtual eviction proceedings with online disruptions.

The protest, organized by KC Tenants, drew about 100 people, who held signs saying “eviction kills” and “court’s closed today.” They called on Jackson County Circuit Court Presiding Judge David Byrn to halt the hearings. For months, KC Tenants has been pushing Byrn to reestablish an eviction moratorium to keep residents in their homes during the coronavirus pandemic and associated economic crisis.

KC Tenants and the American Civil Liberties Union sued Byrn in federal court last month, saying his administrative order laying out procedures for eviction cases violated a federal ban on evictions issued last month by the Centers for Disease Control…