News & Commentary

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.

St. Louis— The ACLU of Missouri calls on Mayor-Elect Tishaura Jones to begin her administration with an intention to address persistent First Amendment violations by the St. Louis City Police Department. Yesterday, a federal judge ordered City officers to stop enforcing two ordinances that restrict political activity in parks. If left unaddressed, several recent court decisions will force the City to defend the Department’s policies in upcoming trials. The incoming administration has an opportunity to resolve litigation facing the City collaboratively by adopting and enforcing policy changes to end the Department’s hostile mistreatment of protestors.

St. Louis—On Wednesday, March 31, Judge Audrey G. Fleissig of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri ruled that an ACLU of Missouri lawsuit filed against St. Louis City police officers and the City of St. Louis challenging the use of chemical munitions after a protest should move forward to a jury trial. The lawsuit alleges that the deployment of chemical munitions from a military-grade armored vehicle in 2015—after the plaintiffs had dispersed from a protest following the killing of Mansur Ball-Bey by a St. Louis City officer—was retaliation in violation of the First Amendment.