News & Commentary

by Jeffrey A. Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Missouri

Journalists Bilgin Şaşmaz and Trey Yingst, who were both arrested for recording police during two separate protests in Ferguson, will not be charged and St. Louis County will aid their efforts to have information about their arrests removed from their records. The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri filed lawsuits on their behalf and announced today that both cases have settled.

Today, the Circuit Court of Cole County agreed that the Missouri Department of Corrections broke the law by failing to honor a Sunshine Law request to disclose the name of the pharmacy that supplied the drugs it uses to administer the death penalty.

The U.S. Supreme Court today issued a sweeping and historic decision that affords gay and lesbian couples the same legal right to marry and recognition of their marriages as different-sex couples. The ruling invalidates discriminatory laws in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee upheld by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and as a practical matter, requires all 50 states to allow same-sex couples to marry.

Once again, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri is seeking to release Grand Juror Doe from the oath of secrecy—this time through the state court instead of federal court. The change is because on May 5, U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel ruled that the Missouri courts should be given the opportunity to resolve this issue before Juror Doe pursues a federal constitutional challenge.

by Sarah Rossi, Director of Advocacy and Policy for the ACLU of Missouri

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) announced today that they will present the "Excellence in Advocacy Award" to Mustafa Abdullah, program associate at the ACLU of Missouri. The award will be given at the annual Civil Rights Luncheon on Friday, June 12, as part of the 35th Anniversary ADC National Convention in Washington, DC.

On May 5, U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel decided to abstain in the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri’s lawsuit on behalf of Grand Juror Doe. The Court found that Grand Juror Doe may ask the St. Louis County Circuit Court to be released from the oath of secrecy based on St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch’s “disclosures and the unique circumstances of this case.” The court also found that Missouri laws might be interpreted to allow Doe to speak.

Jacob Beaumont assumed his new role as director of philanthropy for the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri in April of 2015. He is responsible for overseeing the implementation and advancement of all aspects of the organization’s development program.