News & Commentary

In June 2013, the ACLU released its report, "The War on Marijuana in Black and White: Billions of Dollars Wasted on Racially Biased Arrests." This is the first-ever report to examine nationwide state and county marijuana arrest data by race. According to the report, Missouri blacks were arrested for marijuana possession at 2.6 times the rate of whites in 2010, despite comparable marijuana usage rates.

The Legal Rights for Transgender Missourians was created by the Metro Trans Umbrella Group and the ACLU of Missouri to serve as a resource for those seeking to change their legal recognition. It is recommended that you hire an attorney to change your name and gender marker on legal documents. However, representation is not required. 

"Today’s Supreme Court ruling in the ACLU’s Edie Windsor case strikes down discriminatory provisions of the ‘so-called’ Defense of Marriage Act," says Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU-EM. "This landmark decision recognizes that it is discriminatory for our federal government to treat legally married gay couples any differently than it treats legally married heterosexual couples. This is a day of celebration for America and a historic leap forward for all married same-sex couples and their families.

ST. LOUIS – According to a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), blacks were arrested for marijuana possession at 2.6 times the rate of whites in Missouri during 2010, despite comparable marijuana usage rates. The report, “Marijuana in Black and White: Billions of Dollars Wasted on Racially Biased Arrests,” released June 4, 2013, is the first ever to examine state and county marijuana arrest rates nationally by race. The findings show that while there were pronounced racial disparities in marijuana arrests 10 years ago, they have grown significantly worse1, and that is the case in Missouri.In Missouri, the counties with the largest racial disparity in marijuana possession arrests were St. Louis City, Pettis, Lafayette

Gov. Jay Nixon addressed a group of community advocates at a meeting June 3 at Lutheran Family and Children’s Services of Missouri’s headquarters to inform them that he had vetoed SB 267 that morning.

ACLU Client Now Able to Marry

ST. LOUIS – The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri is pleased to announce that Jeffrey Mittman is the affiliate’s new executive director. May 29 was his first day leading the organization.

ST. LOUIS, MO — On May 28, 2013, U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry entered a preliminary injunction in the ACLU of Eastern Missouri’s lawsuit involving buskers and the city of St. Louis. The City agreed to entry of the order.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO — Stanley Schell, a former detainee at the Sainte Genevieve County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center, and current detainees will receive their newspapers again, thanks to a settlement in Schell v. Sainte Genevieve, which was dismissed on May 9, 2013. The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri filed the suit Jan. 2 on behalf of Schell who stopped getting his prepaid subscription to the Ste. Genevieve Herald a week after his letter to the editor of that paper was published. When Schell inquired about his missing paper, he was informed that the sheriff was no longer allowing local newspapers into the jail.