JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., December 20, 2024 – A Missouri law passed in 2023 that required a blanket redaction rule for all witness and victim names in court filings is unconstitutional and unenforceable, Judge Aaron Martin of Moniteau County ruled Friday in Cole County Circuit Court.
The MBA has asserted from the beginning that the language added to 2023’s Senate Bill 103, without hearings or public comment, was unconstitutional on multiple grounds. The MBA, Gray Local Media and co-plaintiffs filed suit earlier this year. Judge Martin heard arguments on their motion on December 4 seeking judgement that the law is unconstitutional under the First Amendment of the federal constitution, and under the “Open Courts” provision of the Missouri Constitution. Martin issued his judgement just 16 days later.
The law imposed a blanket requirement on all lawyers and judges in Missouri, and required them to redact from court filings the names and personally identifying information from all witnesses and victims. The redaction requirement applied even to judicial orders and opinions. After the law’s effective date in August 2023, Missouri judicial rulings referred to witnesses and victims, if at all, with initials, relationship phrases, and other vague indicators.
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