News & Commentary

Years before Ferguson erupted in the summer of 2014, the St. Louis NAACP had been receiving reports of corruption and abusive policing in St. Louis County municipalities and reached out to the American Civil Liberties Union for help. Today, the ACLU of Missouri filed a lawsuit against Pine Lawn on behalf of Adrian Wright, who was falsely arrested.

ST. LOUIS – Today, the Missouri Court of Appeals agreed that the public has a right to review records related to the 2006 World Series ticket-scalping scandal. The court upheld the trial court’s ruling that police officers could not invoke a right to privacy as a means to conceal documents which pertain to misconduct while performing their official duties.

ST. LOUIS – Today, United States Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Publisher Larry Flynt has the right to intervene in a case challenging Missouri’s execution protocol. Flynt seeks to challenge the sealing of judicial records.

by Jeffrey A. Mittman, ACLU of Missouri Executive Director

ST. LOUIS – A Missouri Revised Statute outlaws the American tradition of anonymous political speech. Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri filed a First Amendment challenge to the statute on behalf of a Ferguson resident.

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – In the wake of the release of the Department of Justice’s scathing report on its investigation of the Ferguson Police Department, racial justice advocates converged in Jefferson City today to support the Fair and Impartial Policing Act, SB 559. The primary sponsor of SB 559 is Missouri Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal, and co-sponsors include Senators S. Kiki Curls (D-9) and Jamilah Nasheed (D-5).

ST. LOUIS – Back in August 2012, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri challenged the newly enacted Missouri’s House of Worship Protection Act on behalf of members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and Call to Action because the Act would infringe on their First Amendment Rights. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit agreed in its opinion, which was released today.

Blog by Jeffrey A. Mittman, Executive Director of the ACLU of Missouri

KANSAS CITY, MO – The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri the ACLU secured a win for its Lincoln College Preparatory Academy clients and has dismissed the civil rights lawsuit that was filed against the Kansas City School District alleging that the District violated the students’ First Amendment rights.