2017 was a year where each day's news cycle felt like a month.
We know it weighs on you. It weighs on us, too. But we can't give in to compassion fatigue, not when we know everything that's at stake. Every day, civil liberties in our nation, and our state, are under attack. And we know that the work we do to protect women, communities of color, immigrants, LGBT persons, and freedom of speech matters even more now. Quite simply, there are people who count on us and we can't wait for someone else to pick up the slack.
We entered 2017 with a new presidential administration and a promise to President Trump: "We will be vigilant every day of your tenure as president. And when you ultimately vacate the Oval Office, we will do likewise with your successor."
The year that followed was a whirlwind of work. We fought against civil liberties violations in municipal courts all the way up to the Supreme Court. Missouri has never been the easiest state for our work, but that makes it that much more crucial that we never give up.
If our heads sometimes spin with the issues, cases, and “drinking from a firehose” nature of our job, we realized that it might just be a bit difficult for you, our supporters, to grasp all of the things we have going on every given day.
Not to mix a metaphor, but we have a LOT of balls in the air. All. The. Time. (Is it a fire hose? Is it juggling? What?! Answer: Somehow it’s both. No joke.)
In order to give you just a snapshot of the work we do in a year, we put together a timeline of our largest cases and biggest issues of 2017.
It's not easy, but we promise we'll never stop fighting for you. We know the cases we take make a difference in the lives of our plaintiffs and in the precedents they set. Someday, you might need us. And we'll be here.
But you also know that we never charge our clients and we never receive government funds, unlike a lot of nonprofits (it's hard to ask for their money when you have to sue them, you know?). Everything we're able to do is because of our members.
As we look forward into 2018, we know that there are many challenges ahead.
But we can say with confidence, that we are ready and we will not back down when Missourians Constitutional rights are attacked.
Stand with us and make a commitment to speak out, resist, and fight back when civil rights are threatened in Missouri.