News & Commentary

Nearly six months have passed since nine marriage ceremonies at the Jefferson City Correctional Center were canceled because the couples couldn’t obtain marriage licenses. The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri filed a suit in November on behalf of five of the fiancées who were determined to find a solution. On March 21, Chief United States District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan, Jr., ruled that a Missouri statute that requires both parties to sign a marriage license in the presence of the recorder of deeds is unconstitutional when an applicant is incarcerated. The Cole County recorder of deeds will be able to issue a marriage license with reasonable written proof authenticating the signature and incarceration of an applicant.

Scouts, Little League baseball teams, firefighters and members of the Ku Klux Klan are free to pass out handbills in the City of Desloge. On March 19, United States District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig entered a consent judgment that the City of Desloge must not enforce the city ordinance that prohibits the distribution of leaflets on city streets and sidewalks.

A First Amendment lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri on behalf of Brian Becker against the city of Poplar Bluff was settled on March 14, 2013. The City of Poplar Bluff has agreed to drop all investigations against Becker for distributing leaflets and not replace the unconstitutional ordinance, which forbids the placement of handbills on vehicles without a permit and advance written consent of the vehicle owners; the ordinance was repealed shortly after the ACLU brought suit.

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.