Freedom Center of Missouri

Dave had a great time (as usual) being the voice of liberty in the Legal Roundtable edition of St. Louis On The Air on St. Louis Public Radio. "Roland called the doctrine of qualified immunity the bane of a public-interest litigator’s existence. He added: I’m always thrilled to see any case where a court finds no qualified immunity. That will always represent a step in the right direction as far as citizens being able to hold their public officials accountable.... https://news.stlpublicradio.org//cops-lose-qualified-immun

Missourians should be concerned that government agencies are enlisting law firms to conduct research that could be done by non-attorneys. Although there may under some circumstances be justification for doing so, we are concerned that these government entities are focused on finding excuses for denying transparency. https://missouriindependent.com//missouri-gaming-commissi/

In 2014 Missouri voters overwhelmingly supported an amendment to the state constitution that required courts to apply the most stringent form of judicial scrutiny to restrictions on the right of self-defense. Today the Missouri Court of Appeals held that as long as law enforcement officers testify that firearms restrictions will make a community safer or reduce firearm-related crime, the government can completely ban citizens from possessing firearms in that community. As th...e Freedom Center explained in the brief we filed in this case: "The idea that the general governmental interest in protecting the public from crime might justify denying law-abiding citizens the means to protect themselves from criminals is utter nonsense. If courts conclude that such general governmental interests will justify broad prohibitions, these judicially-created exceptions will very quickly obliterate the constitutional rule. Thus, as a matter of law, this Court’s interpretation of Article I, 23, must take into account that the people of Missouri, being fully aware of the risks that attend the possession of firearms, nonetheless have demanded protection for 'the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, family and property[.]' This Court is obliged to respect and uphold their choice." Alas, the Missouri Court of Appeals HAS NOT upheld the voters' choice. The Missouri Supreme Court needs to review this case and fix the utterly broken standard it applies to constitutional interpretation, generally, and to the right of self-defense in particular. http://www.mofreedom.org//missouri-courts-must-uphold-cit/

Some folks have recently suggested the possibility that the President of the United States might invoke "martial law." Several years ago we prepared this quick primer on the topic of martial law, explaining when it may and may not be employed by the federal government - and also why Missouri's Constitution does NOT allow state or local authorities to declare martial law.

We took on Rebecca Varney's case not only because her city government had subjected her to treatment that violated the constitution and state laws, but also because we knew *she is not alone.* As this case brought by our friends and colleagues at the Institute for Justice shows, petty tyrants all over the country are trying to silence those who would keep the government transparent and accountable to its citizens.