News & Commentary

On March 6, 2013, the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri and affiliates in 22 other states simultaneously filed public records requests to determine the extent to which local police departments are using federally subsidized military technology and tactics that are traditionally used overseas.

In a consent judgment signed March 5, a federal district court-ordered the Salem Public Library to stop blocking patrons’ access to websites related to minority religions that the library’s web filters classified as “occult” or “criminal.” Blocking access to material based solely on viewpoint is a violation of the First Amendment.

JEFFERSON CITY – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Eastern Missouri appeared before the Supreme Court of Missouri on Feb. 27, 2013, to argue on behalf of Kelly Glossip, whose partner, Dennis Engelhard, was a state trooper killed in the line of duty. Missouri offers survivor benefits to spouses of troopers killed in the line of duty, but not to committed same-sex partners.

ST. LOUIS –The Department of Justice reached a settlement with an eating disorders treatment center that turned a Missouri woman away in 2011 because she is HIV-positive. Under the settlement, the Castlewood Treatment Center, LLC must pay $115,000 to the complainant Sue Gibson and $25,000 to the United States in civil penalties, develop and implement an anti-discrimination policy and train its staff on the ADA. The department will monitor Castlewood’s compliance for four years. The settlement can be found on the ACLU-EM website.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO — The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri filed a suit Jan. 2 on behalf of Stanley Schell, a detainee at the Sainte Genevieve County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center. Schell had a prepaid subscription to the Ste. Genevieve Herald and received his copy every Wednesday for several months, until Nov. 7. This was exactly one 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.

ST. LOUIS, MO — Scouts, Little League baseball teams, firefighters, politicians and others will be able to solicit and pass out handbills in the City of Desloge without fear of arrest, thanks to a ruling Dec. 27 by United States District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig. In a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, Judge Fleissig found that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their argument that the law is unconstitutional. Her decision grants a preliminary injunction.

CAPE GIRARDEAU — The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri’s client, Frank L. Snider, III, was awarded $7 ,000 in compensatory damages Dec. 14 for a Fourth Amendment violation when he was arrested Oct. 23, 2009, for burning a flag in front of his Cape Girardeau home to protest government acts. Snider was jailed for seven hours on a charge of desecrating a flag.

St. Louis, MO — Gena Fuller had planned to remarry the father of her two children on Sept. 24, but there was one hitch. The Cole County Recorder of Deeds was not allowed to enter the Jefferson City Correctional Center, as he had done for 17 years, where her fiancé is incarcerated. Therefore, he was unable to complete the required marriage license. A new policy requires the Recorder of Deeds to disclose his Social Security number to prison officials—something he refuses to do—before he can witness inmates’ signatures on marriage license applications.

ST. LOUIS, MO — On Nov. 18, the ACLU of Eastern Missouri filed a suit against the City of Poplar Bluff for an unconstitutional ordinance regarding the distribution of handbills without a permit and advance written consent of the operators of each vehicle. The ACLU is representing Brian Becker, who feared arrest after distributing handbills opposing a local $20 million bond initiative for sewer upgrades.