News & Commentary

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.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO. — The federal district court in Cape Girardeau declared on March 20, 2012, that Missouri’s statute prohibiting flag desecration is unconstitutional and permanently enjoined the state from enforcing the law. The decision came in a case brought by the ACLU of Eastern Missouri on behalf of Frank Snider, who was arrested and held in jail for eight hours on a charge of violating the statute.

ST. LOUIS — On Feb. 28, 2012, the ACLU of Eastern Missouri applauded the City of Ballwin for repealing its ordinance that made it a crime to extend a body part out of a car window. The ACLU represented Steven Pogue in municipal court after he was charged with violating the ordinance for gesturing with his middle finger to a driver who ran a red light. The officer pulled over Pogue rather than the red-light violator, and charged him with an ordinance violation.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A federal district court ruled Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, that the Camdenton R-III School District must stop censoring web content geared toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities through discriminatory filtering software. The ruling orders the district to stop blocking content based on the viewpoints expressed by the website.

ST. LOUIS — The ACLU of Eastern Missouri filed a lawsuit Jan. 25, 2012, against the City of St. Louis and its Division of Corrections over their failure to respond to a request for public records.