ST. LOUIS, MO — Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri Foundation filed a First Amendment lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state statute that prohibits identifying any current or former member of the execution team without permission from the Missouri Department of Correction’s director.
Yesterday, the ACLU learned that MODOC had changed its execution protocol to redefine the execution team to include suppliers of execution drugs as members of the execution team.
The ACLU promptly removed website documents that had been obtained through a Sunshine Law request because the documents contain the name of drug suppliers.
“Since the 1950s, the ACLU has maintained a policy that is opposed to government censorship of unclassified information,” said Jeffrey A. Mittman, the ACLU-MO’s executive director. “The government’s trend toward unwarranted secrecy that conceals practices of doubtful constitutionality needs to stop.”
“We intend to ask the court for expedited relief,” says Tony Rothert, the ACLU-MO’s legal director. “That way we can post documents that identify execution team members on our website without fear of violating any statutes.”