Missouri ballot initiative clears hurdle
The State Attorney General had attempted to hold up effort to get abortion rights before voters
A ballot initiative in Missouri to protect abortion rights cleared a legal hurdle on Thursday as the state supreme court affirmed a lower court ruling forcing the Attorney General to sign off on it.
A legal clash between Attorney General Andrew Bailey and State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick over the estimated cost of the initiative had made its way up the court system. Bailey wouldn’t sign off on a report from Fitzpatrick that the ballot initiative had no significant costs. Both Fitzpatrick and Bailey are Republicans. The ACLU of Missouri had argued it was simply an attempt to prevent the ballot initiative from going before voters.
“While today is a tremendous victory for Missourians and the right to direct democracy, it is clear that some who hold office will not hesitate to trample the constitution if it advances their personal interests and political beliefs,” said Luz María Henríquez, Executive Director at the ACLU of Missouri. “The ACLU of Missouri will continue to hold politicians accountable to our Constitution and protect Missourians’ right to direct democracy.”
In early May, after documents revealed that Attorney General Andrew Bailey, in an unprecedented effort, was abusing the authority of his office to coerce the elected State Auditor to artificially inflate the fiscal using inaccurate information. The disagreement between the two state officials led to a stalemate, providing no recourse to Dr. Anna Fitz-James, who filed the petitions, or Missourians’ constitutional right to direct democracy through the initiative petition process.
The ACLU of Missouri filed a verified petition for writ of mandamus and declaratory judgment, seeking the court to compel official action or the Secretary of State to certify the ballot title. Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem found the Attorney General had an “absolute lack of authority” to reject the fiscal note and that his claim to have the authority to dictate the fiscal note to the Auditor is “preposterous.”
The certification process should take approximately 54 days and has for every other initiative petition. In this case, certification will have taken at least 135 days from submission solely because of the Attorney General’s obstruction. This purposeful stall has taken nearly three months away from signature collection efforts, which now will be more expensive.
“At every level of our judicial system, the courts saw the Attorney General’s effort to derail the initiative process for what it was: a deliberate threat to the direct democracy,” said Anthony Rothert, Director of Integrated Advocacy at the ACLU of Missouri. “As obviously unconstitutional as his scheme was, it succeeded in wasting valuable time. If the Attorney General and Secretary of State are serious about their oaths to the constitution, they will carry out their duties today, not cause more delay.”