News & Commentary

On Aug. 7, 2012, the majority of Missouri voters decided to amend the Missouri Constitution and on Aug. 8th, the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri filed a class action lawsuit challenging one section of that amendment.

On Aug. 6, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri’s appeal on behalf of Donald E. Stahl. Stahl, a member of an organization called the 9/11 Questions Group, was arrested in 2009 for holding a sign stating “911 was an inside job” on the Park Avenue Overpass in the city of St. Louis, which is located over the merger of Interstates 44 and 55, during morning rush hour traffic.

ACLU-EM Executive Director Brenda L. Jones announced at the group’s June 16 Annual Membership Meeting that she will retire at the end of this calendar year. “Despite my girlish looks," she kidded, "I am nearing the age of retirement and I’ve decided that this is a good moment in our history for me to pass the baton.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri received a favorable judgment June 27, 2012, in a lawsuit over the St. Louis Division of Corrections’ failure to respond to the ACLU’s request for information about grievance policies in the jails.

St. Louis, June 13 - Did you know that elderly* prisoners cost twice as much as average prisoners to incarcerate? Today, the national office of the American Civil Liberties Union issued a report stating that releasing low-risk elderly prisoners could save the country billions of dollars and still protect public safety. See the full report.

St. Louis, May 21 – Samuel Walker will be the keynote speaker for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Civil Liberties of Eastern Missouri (ACLU-EM) from 2-4 p.m., Saturday, June 16, at their office, located at 454 Whittier Street, St. Louis, MO 63108. His speech, Obama and Civil Liberties: How Does He Compare?, springs from the pages of his latest book, "Presidents and Civil Liberties from Wilson to Obama: A Story of Poor Custodians,” where Walker examines how civil liberties issues have fared under our 17 most recent presidents.

St. Louis, May 17 - Last night the city of St. Louis used a condemnation ordinance as a pretext to close Larry Rice’s new encampment, Integrity Village. The ordinance in question is designed for use in safety emergencies, which was clearly not the situation as tents were being newly erected on an empty lot. The city did not even cite any specific violations in its condemnation notification.

Thanks to efforts by the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, April LaChance married her fiancé Alain Hersey-Brown today. The couple's original plans to wed this past Feb. 14 were postponed because Hersey-Brown, a Canadian citizen who was stopped in Boone County on a traffic violation in November, has been in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Morgan County Detention Center in Versailles, Missouri, since December. Morgan County Sheriff officials willingly offered to transport Hersey-Brown the 282 feet to the Morgan County Recorder's office to obtain a marriage license, but ICE would not allow them to do so. And the Morgan County Recorder refused to travel the 282 feet to the jail.

ST. LOUIS, April 18 – Yesterday, United States District Eastern District of Missouri Judge Rodney W. Sippel ruled that the city of Florissant unconstitutionally restricted M. Christine Breden Koetter’s right to free speech by requiring her to remove a political sign from her yard in November 2010. The city of Florissant is responsible for paying her damages, attorneys’ costs and fees. Ms. Breden Koetter was represented by Anthony Rothert and Grant Doty, attorneys with the American Civil Liberties of Eastern Missouri.