News & Commentary

ST. LOUIS ? On July 16, the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri filed a suit on behalf of Tara Ballenger and others who correspond with detainees held at the Morgan County Adult Detention Center. Ballenger had regularly sent printed materials, such as letters, newspaper and magazine clippings, and books to a detainee, who did not receive items she sent on various dates in June. Ballenger never received notice that the items were confiscated, and none of the items were returned to her.

ST. LOUIS — On July 2, the St. Charles City Council repealed an ordinance that violated First Amendment rights, and Mayor Sally Faith signed the paperwork making it official. Adopted in January 2011, Section 215.220 of the city’s code of ordinances was only in effect nine days before the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri (ACLU-EM) won a temporary injunction on behalf of its clients, members of the Westboro Baptist Church. A preliminary injunction followed on Jan. 27, 2011.

The Missouri Immigrant & Refugee Advocates (MIRA) and ACLU held a rally for inclusive immigration reform on Sunday, June 30, 2013. Community members and leaders lifted their voices in support of immigration reform at the World's Fair Pavilion in Forest Park, Concourse Drive, St. Louis, Mo., 63110. To learn more about the event, vist

At the beginning of April of this year, the ACLU-EM formally joined MIRA (Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates) - the only statewide immigrant rights advocacy organization - whose membership includes dozens of congregations, agencies, service-providers, and businesses. The ACLU-EM is one of a handful of groups with representatives on MIRA's leadership team, which it created in order to develop a strategy for getting our senators and representatives to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The leadership team meets weekly to discuss ongoing efforts and to plan new events. To learn more about this organization,

This is what we did: We held a vigil outside Sen

On May 1st, one of our partner organizations, MIRA, organized more than 250 people to rally outside Senator Roy Blunt’s office in Clayton, Missouri, calling on the Senator to support a bill that would grant citizenship to all 11 million aspiring citizens. At the rally, a group of leaders were able to meet with a policy advisor for Senator Blunt. During the meeting, immigrants were able to share their stories and asked the policy advisor to encourage the Senator to support the bill.

There are more than 1,100 places in federal law where a protection or responsibility is based on marital status. The ruling striking down DOMA will not be effective until 25 days from the decision, but even when effective, federal agencies—large bureaucracies—may need and take some time to change forms, implement procedures, train personnel, and efficiently incorporate same-sex couples into the spousal-based system. Until same-sex couples can marry in every state in the nation, there will be uncertainty about the extent to which same-sex spouses will receive federal marital-based protections nationwide. For federal programs that assess marital status based on the law of a state that does not respect marriages of same-sex couples, those state laws will likely pose obstacles for legally married couples and surviving spouses in accessing federal protections and responsibilities. The fact sheet series was produced together by: American Civil Liberties Union, Center for American Progress, Family Equality

The ACLU of Missouri updated an LGBT Handbook with valuable information and resources for Missouri. This version was last updated in June of 2015. 

The ACLU of Missouri released its report “Caught in the Web of Mass Surveillance” Oct. 23, 2014. It is the product of an extensive investigation into the existing web of surveillance cameras in St. Louis, where a number of entities maintain a hodgepodge of surveillance cameras governed by a variety of internal policies or, in many cases, no policies at all.