ACLU files lawsuit, says anti-affirmative action initiative is unconstitutional

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Eastern Missouri and the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri today filed a lawsuit challenging the latest attempt to amend Missouri’s state constitution to ban equal opportunity programs in the state.

Sponsors call their initiative an effort to ban preferential treatment.

Filed in the circuit court of Cole County, the lawsuit charges that the anti-affirmative action ballot initiative – the third of its kind proposed by Timothy Asher and his Missouri Civil Rights Initiative – should not be circulated for signatures because it violates the Missouri Constitution by seeking to trick and defraud Missouri voters in attempting to ban an array of equal opportunity programs.

Missouri was one of three states – along with Arizona and Oklahoma – in which efforts to qualify anti-equal opportunity initiatives for the ballot during the 2008 election cycle failed.

The ACLU lawsuit filed today charges that the current proposal would confuse voters by forcing them to vote on multiple issues in a single proposition in violation of the Missouri Constitution and that the ballot summary certified by the secretary of state contains language that is unfair and misleading, in violation of Missouri law. Additionally, the lawsuit charges that Missouri’s auditor failed to adequately assess the proposed initiative’s fiscal impact.

A copy of today’s lawsuit is available online at: www.aclu.org/racialjustice/aa/40740lgl20090814.html.

-Staff Report