News & Commentary

It may have been a shortened work week, but we received a month’s worth of media attention. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

SPRINGFIELD, MO – American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri Legal Director Tony Rothert sent a letter Oct. 8 to Todd A. Johnson of the Ozark Fire District informing him that the district is required to offer spousal benefits to its married employees, regardless of their sexual orientation. Despite state and federal court rulings striking down the 2004 Missouri Constitutional amendment that bans marriage between same-sex couples, the Ozark Fire District refuses to offer equal benefits to same-sex spouses, so today the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri filed a lawsuit on behalf of Andrea “Andi” Mooneyham against the Ozark Fire Protection District.

KANSAS CITY, MO – The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri sent a letter advising Lincoln College Preparatory Academy to not punish students who participated in a silent protest on Nov. 20.

The grand jury in Ferguson, Mo., decided not to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson on charges in the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown. The following is reaction from Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri:

ST. LOUIS – The ACLU of Missouri is reviewing information regarding the Nov. 22 arrest of Trey Yingst, a News2Share reporter and producer, in Ferguson, Missouri. According to the St. Louis County Police Department, Mr. Yingst was arrested for allegedly standing in the street and failing to disperse after being asked by law enforcement to do so. However, several eye-witness accounts and video recordings of the incident suggest that Mr. Yingst was standing on the sidewalk exercising his First Amendment right to record police at the time of his arrest and it is unclear what legal authority police officers would have had to order him to disperse.

In August attorneys for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the County of St. Louis and the City of Ferguson signed an agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri stating that protesters and the media had the right to record law enforcement officers. But, that agreement was disregarded many times in the last few months so the ACLU went back to court last Friday and filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. Today United States District Judge John A. Ross granted three court orders against the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the County of St. Louis and the City of Ferguson.

On Nov. 18, U.S. District Court Judge Rodney W. Sippel entered a consent judgment forbidding the Board of Election Commissioners from confiscating campaign materials. The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri had filed a civil rights lawsuit Oct. 30 on behalf of Jennifer Florida, a candidate for St. Louis City Recorder of Deeds.

ST. LOUIS – On Nov. 13, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri sent a letter to law enforcement agencies and elected officials in St. Louis County and the state of Missouri to offer guidance for protecting free speech rights once the grand jury announces its decision regarding Officer Darren Wilson. The letter was sent to: Governor Jay Nixon, Attorney General Chris Koster, Col. Ronald Replogle, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, St. Louis County Councilman Steve Stenger, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, St. Louis City Mayor Francis Slay, Metropolitan Police Department of St. Louis Col. Samuel Dotson, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles and Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The ACLU of Eastern Missouri settled two lawsuits filed on behalf of prisoners in the Jefferson City Correctional Center, which is operated by the Missouri Department of Corrections. The ACLU had filed suits on behalf of Jeffrey W. Rogers and Andrew Madden alleging that the Department’s blanket policy of denying inmates the use of motorized wheelchairs violated the Americans With Disabilities Act. While the Department recognized that both men need wheelchairs and neither could operate his wheelchair independently, the policy required the inmates to rely on a “pusher.” Pushers were other inmates assigned to push a disabled inmate’s manual wheelchair. Under terms of the agreement, both men will be permitted to use a motorized wheelchair in the prison.