Freedom Center of Missouri

10/10/2025

The Journal of the Missouri Bar has an article about Gross v. Parson, a case in which we were part of a dream team of constitutional attorneys who took down an unconstitutional law that tried to shroud court proceedings in secrecy.

Mark Sableman is senior counsel at Thompson Coburn LLP and represented plaintiffs in Gross v. Missouri. Sableman is a non-voting member of the Missouri Press-Bar Commission.    Hon. Michael A. Wolff is a retired judge and former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri, as well as dean eme...

09/19/2025

As we've previously noted, it's been a busy media week for us because lots of journalists have been asking about First Amendment issues in light of various government responses to people's commentary on Charlie Kirk's assassination. Yesterday's interview with ABC 17 in Columbia allowed Dave to express the concern that has been building in his mind, which is captured in the screenshot below.

We have constitutional protections for speech and expression precisely *because* people may choose to express opinions that others find abhorrent. Other private citizens may choose to shun or ostracize someone for expressing ideas that the hearers find offensive - but it is incredibly dangerous and, thus, unacceptable to allow *the government* to do so. Punishing people who say things a political leader doesn't like is, quite literally, a recipe for tyranny and despotism. We must as a society draw a clear, firm line against government efforts to penalize or prosecute people (or institutions) simply because they offend someone else.

https://abc17news.com/news/education/university-of-missouri/2025/09/18/university-of-missouri-warns-employees-about-social-media-posts-as-statements-about-kirk-shooting-scrutinized/

09/18/2025

We've had an extremely busy media week as journalists all over Missouri have asked us to weigh in on the various reactions to Charlie Kirk's tragic murder last week. This story probably covers more of the points Dave has been making in these interviews than any of the others, so this is the one we'll share.

Many took to social media to express their views after Charlie Kirk's death. As opinions flood, questions surrounding free speech emerged.

08/21/2025

We have filed our appellate brief in Varney v. City of Edgar Springs, defending the trial court's command for the City to pay the judgment Rebecca won. Read more about it here:

The Freedom Center of Missouri has filed its respondent’s brief with the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, in the case of State ex rel. Rebecca Varney v. City of Edgar Springs, arguing th

07/16/2025

At (very) long last, Aaron Malin's lawsuit against the Cole County Prosecuting Attorney's Office has come to a close.

"Ten years ago Aaron Malin set out to make sure that the Cole County Prosecuting Attorney's Office would be required to obey the Sunshine Law. It turned out to be a much longer, much harder fight than he possibly could have imagined, including three trips to the Court of Appeals and back. But the courts finally - and fully - vindicated his position, along the way establishing precedents that will help Missourians enjoy government transparency for years to come.”

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) A 10-year case in Cole County has ended. A satisfaction of judgement has ended in Aaron Malin’s case against the Cole County Prosecutor’s Office. Malin had previously asked a judge to reprimand the office for not disclosing documents between the prosecutor’s office a...

06/24/2025

Although we are disappointed the author of this Newsweek article did not mention the Freedom Center, it was nice to see our Director of Litigation quoted extensively in such a prominent publication.

A recently signed bill in Missouri would put a cap on property tax increases for many homeowners in the state—but not all.

06/14/2025

After ten long, hard years of fighting, the light is at the end of the tunnel for our case against the Cole County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

After nearly a decade, a legal showdown over Sunshine Law and Cole County government transparency is tentatively at its end.

05/29/2025

We are thrilled to be featured on one of Missouri's premier legal podcasts, "The Jury is Out" by the Simon Law Firm. This is part one of what we think will be three episodes focusing on the Freedom Center's work.

This groundbreaking litigation about defective baby formula causing catastrophic necrotizing enterocolitis in premature newborns pits marketing against medicine.David Roland founded the Freedom Center of Missouri to pursue legal protection of our constitutional rights to economic liberty and free sp...

05/02/2025

The Jeff City News Tribune has an update on our still-ongoing case against the Cole County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

A decade-long court battle focused around the Missouri Sunshine law could finally have an end on the horizon.

04/23/2025

Fox News has noticed the Freedom Center's newest case!

A mom is suing a Missouri school for suspending her 13-year-old son for making a rifle out of cans of Dr. Pepper and then posting a photo of it on Snapchat.

03/10/2025

In about fifteen minutes Dave and Freedom Center client Aaron Malin will be on St. Louis Public Radio to discuss our ongoing, ten-year battle to obtain public records from the Cole County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

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03/05/2025

Aaron Malin first requested these records on April 1, 2015. Dave has been working on this case for almost half of his entire legal career.

Last July the Cole County Circuit Court ordered the Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide updates regarding the progress of its search for the records Malin requested "not later than or less frequently than the end of each month between the time the Court enters this Order and the date a satisfaction of judgment is entered in this case." Of the eight months that have passed since the entry of that order, the Prosecuting Attorney has *never* provided all the required information and in six of those months did not provide any substantive update at all - even though we repeatedly reminded them of their obligation and warned that we would take action if they did not start complying with the court's order.

Our warnings were not heeded. That is why a couple of days ago we filed a motion to have the Prosecuting Attorney's Office held in contempt. We expect a hearing on our motion to take place in the next two weeks.

“What a huge demonstration of incompetence and a massive waste of taxpayer money."