Jefferson City, Mo. - The Supreme Court of Missouri is scheduled at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, September 10, for oral arguments in the ACLU of Missouri's appeal of a lower court’s ruling that would remove Amendment 3 from the November ballot.
Our brief as the Intervenor-Appellants states, “This case is about whether the people’s right to engage in direct democracy will be protected, or if Section 116.050 must be read so broadly that the Court is duty-bound to adopt an interpretation of that procedural statute that would throw a certified amendment off the ballot. The trial court's decision threatens to grind our system of constitutional initiative petition to a halt at the last minute.
“Hundreds of thousands of Missourians have exercised their power as citizens in its purest form and want their fellow citizens to vote on whether to change Missouri's Constitution with regard to abortion rights.”
Currently, the Supreme Court of Missouri has granted that the lower court’s stay remains in effect until it issues a further order.
On Friday, the Cole County Circuit Court held a bench trial for a second lawsuit filed by two politicians and a special interest group in an effort to prevent Missourians from exercising their right to vote to add protections for reproductive freedom, including access to abortion, birth control, and miscarriage care to the state constitution. Previously, the same plaintiffs and litigators lost a challenge to the fiscal impact of the Amendment.
Late Friday evening, Judge Christopher Limbaugh sided with the novel arguments of the plaintiffs and took the extraordinary leap that would lead to the removal of Amendment 3 from the ballot. Over the weekend, lawyers for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom filed an appeal with the Missouri Court of Appeals in the Western District. Shortly after, the Western District transferred the case to the Missouri Supreme Court.
Read the Intervenor-Appellants’ full brief.