Source: ACSOL
A federal judge today set March 27, 2024, as the trial date for the Halloween sign case in Missouri. The trial will be conducted before the judge only, with no jury, in Halloween case – U.S. District Court, Eastern District, in St. Louis – Court Order – Trial Setting etc. The trial will be open to the public.
During the trial, the court will consider both whether the Halloween sign requirement violates the First Amendment and whether to issue the existing statewide temporary restraining order (TRO) on a permanent basis. The trial court issued the TRO on October 27 and the TRO was upheld by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on October 30.
“The district court took an important step forward in this case today by setting a trial date,” stated ACSOL Executive Director and lead attorney Janice Bellucci. “We expect the court to make its decision shortly after the trial and that will give us plenty of time to appeal the district court’s decision, if necessary.”
Between today’s date and issuance of the district court’s decision, the existing TRO will remain in effect. That TRO prohibits the Attorney General and all law enforcement in the state of Missouri from enforcing the state’s Halloween sign requirement.
In addition to preparing for trial, the parties will need to brief the court regarding a Motion to Dismiss the case filed by the AG last week. Given that the district court issued a TRO, it is unlikely that the same court will dismiss the case.
Download the trial setting:
Would love to see contempt of court charges against those LE who decided to enforce the suspended law by the TRO anyway. I bet you can find a lot of examples of those who did violate it with evidence to support a motion against them, every last one of them.
May have to schedule a front row seat on this case in person.
I hope Missouri and neighboring states’ registrants/families show up in St. Louis playing ” We Aren’t Going to take it.” by the Twisted Sisters. Hopefully the Missouri AG will be schooled that he can’t do whatever he wants while being the highest LE in the state.
The very fact that the authorities are challenging this exposes how they hide their hate behind the “public safety” cover story. Cops don’t feel like they’re “winning” unless they are the ones controlling the narrative – even if they know it’s based on erroneous information and disingenuous..
I would guess more children are killed by family pets on Halloween than are assaulted by registrants. 🤷🏻♂️
Child attacked, killed by family dog on Halloween night, police say
Very sad. 🙁
I think the results of this proceeding (and McClendon v. Long) need to be forwarded to all attorney’s general about mid-September next year. Gives them enough time to let all their sheriffs know when this silly issue inevitably comes up again.