News & Commentary

St. Louis: Today, United States District Judge Matthew T. Schelp entered a consent decree in a case brought by the ACLU of Missouri against the City of St. Louis regarding the unconstitutional treatment of protesters by police. The ACLU of Missouri brought a challenge to police tactics used against protestors amid widespread protests of police killings without accountability. Among other things, the decree places stringent limits on the use of chemical munitions at protests, mandates specific warnings before people can be required to disperse or gassed, implements training to discourage the misuse of low-level ordinances to arrest peaceful protesters, requires officers at protests to wear ID at all times or be disciplined, and compels the department to put its protest-related policies online where they are accessible to the public.

Kansas City Protester Settles Lawsuit and Ends Kansas City Police Department’s Use of “Banishment Order” 

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals continued to block Missouri’s HB 126 — a sweeping abortion ban passed in 2019 — from being enforced.

The ACLU of Missouri, a member of the Privacy Watch Coalition, celebrates 8th Ward Alderwoman Annie Rice for the reintroduction of Board Bill 31 (Community Control over Police Surveillance) which would require public oversight of surveillance technologies.

This year the ACLU of Missouri tracked 727 pieces of legislation in the state legislature, ranging from police reform to attacks on the First Amendment, voting rights, trans youth, and reproductive freedom.

The ACLU of Missouri celebrates the bipartisan work of the Missouri legislature which passed critical reforms limiting the use of restraint and seclusion in Missouri schools.

The ACLU of Missouri recognizes the work of the legislature to reform criminal justice through the prohibition of chokeholds.

The ACLU of Missouri applauds the Missouri Legislature for its work in allocating $3.6 million in funding to the Missouri Public Defender System in this year’s budget.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit today ruled that the injunction entered by a federal judge in the wake of 2017 protests following the acquittal of a white police officer who had killed a black motorist will remain in effect.