News & Commentary

ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Research & Education Network (“MOREnet”), a consortium that provides Internet access and filtering software to 100 school districts across the state, confirmed today it will no longer activate a feature on its filtering software that blocked non-sexual content geared toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities.

First-Ever Challenge to a Photo ID Constitutional Amendment Filed on Behalf of the Elderly, People with Disabilities, Racial Minorities, and Students Who Face Loss of Voting Rights

ST. LOUIS — The ACLU of Eastern Missouri filed a lawsuit today on behalf of Kayla M. Page charging Howard County, Missouri and Sheriff Charles Polson for interfering with Page’s right to marry an inmate currently incarcerated at the Howard County jail.

Filtering Software Exposes Public Schools Across the Country To Liability For Viewpoint-Based Censorship

April 14, 2011—More than 140 diverse members of the Muslim-American community, and some allies from other faith communities, gathered in Jefferson City on Wednesday, April 13 for a historic day at the Capitol. The large group had representatives from across the state, including people of many ethnic backgrounds and more than thirty middle schoolers from the Al-Salam Day School. They spent the day introducing themselves to state legislators in an effort to build bridges which they feel have been too long overdue. They also wanted legislators to oppose three bills that they feel would unfairly target Muslim-Americans.

March 2, 2011--The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri (ACLU-EM) today said that St. Louis City officials and union representatives have walked away from negotiations to create an independent oversight agency for the St. Louis jails. “These negotiations were carried out at the behest of the Board of Aldermen,” said Brenda Jones, Executive Director of the ACLU-EM. “After a year of productive negotiations, it is tragic that some officials of the city have walked away, even as the accusations of abuse escalate. ”

ST. LOUIS, January 5, 2011 -- Information uncovered by the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri through a Sunshine Law request shows the Department of Corrections has a severe shortage of the drug sodium thiopental, one of three drugs used for lethal injection executions in Missouri. The drug is necessary for an execution to be constitutional in Missouri, and the remaining supply is limited and set to expire in March. The sole U.S. manufacturer of the drug is not currently producing it.

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Eastern Missouri and the ACLU of Kansas & Western Missouri filed a lawsuit today on behalf of Kelly Glossip, whose partner, Dennis Engelhard, was a state trooper killed in the line of duty while responding to an accident on Christmas Day of last year. Missouri offers survivor benefits to spouses of state troopers who are killed in the line of duty, but excludes committed same-sex partners from receiving those benefits. Glossip is seeking the same survivor benefits provided to opposite-sex partners.

November 23, 2010 – A federal court entered a judgment yesterday prohibiting St. Francois County Sheriff Daniel Bullock from enforcing Missouri’s statutes prohibiting desecration of the national and Missouri Flags and protests near funerals. The order came in a case filed earlier this year by the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri on behalf of Ms. Shirley Phelps-Roper a suit which sought to protect citizens desiring to engage in constitutionally protected expressive conduct.