News & Commentary

 The ACLU is asking the Supreme Court of the United States to take on the case of Bobby Bostic, who was unconstitutionally sentenced to 241 years in prison for non-homicide crimes he committed when he was 16.

We pride ourselves on the work we've done on behalf of the LGBTQ community in Missouri. From a case in the 1980s where we fought a law that made cross-dressing illegal in St. Louis, to Barrier v. Vasterling, a Missouri case which earned all same-sex married couples the full rights of marriage, we've made sure protecting the rights of LGBTQ Missourians is at the core of the work we do.

It has been both a difficult and landmark year for women's rights and reproductive rights across the nation and here in Missouri.

This week, the watchdog agency for the Department of Homeland Security issued a damning new report examining Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s operation of five immigration jails across the country.  The Office of the Inspector General concluded that the serious problems it found “undermine the protection of detainees’ rights, their humane treatment, and the provision of a safe and healthy environment.”

Earlier this week, media reports incorrectly reported that the Pentagon would begin allowing transgender people to enlist in the military despite President Trump’s opposition.

Some 1.3 million Alabamians – more than twice as many who voted in the primary – turned out to vote in Tuesday’s special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The turnout was extraordinary because it took place in a state that has a well-documented history of trying to suppress the vote of the very group that helped propel Doug Jones to victory.

“In this case, the court found the Ferguson-Florissant School District’s at-large voting system made it nearly impossible for African-Americans to have real political representation on their local school board,” said Tony Rothert, legal director, ACLU of Missouri. “The future of the district’s children will improve once the discriminatory voting system is eliminated.”

The Ferguson-Florissant School District was born out of a 1975 federal desegregation order, intended to remedy effects of historical discrimination against African-American students.

The authors of the Declaration of Independence outlined a bold vision for America: A nation in which all people would be free and equal.