Kansas City – The Missouri Court of Appeals unanimously rejected the Secretary of State’s appeal to reverse the lower court’s decision to strike and rewrite summary statements for six reproductive freedom ballot initiatives.
The court’s ruling stated:
“The Secretary’s summary statements are replete with politically partisan language. After removal of the inaccurate and partisan language of the Secretary’s summary statements, the circuit court was left with largely unworkable summary statements. The circuit court was authorized to write alternative language to fulfill its responsibility that a fair and sufficient summary statement be certified.”
In response to the court’s ruling, the ACLU of Missouri issued the following statement:
“Today, the courts upheld Missourians’ constitutional right to direct democracy over the self-serving attacks of politicians desperately seeking to climb the political ladder. The decision from the Missouri Court of Appeals is a complete rebuke of the combined efforts from the Attorney General and Secretary of State to interfere and deny Missourian’s their right to initiative process.”
Read decision and new ballot summaries.
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