Coleman, et al. v. Ashcroft

Thomas More Society attorneys challenged the inclusion of proposed Amendment 3 on the November ballot in Missouri. The filing alleges that the initiative petition was erroneously certified by Missouri Secretary of State John Ashcroft, because it runs afoul of the Missouri Constitution and state statutes. Amendment 3, also known as the “Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative” seeks to amend the state constitution to include an unlimited, new “super-right,” called the “fundamental right to reproductive freedom.” In the proposed amendment, this term is left largely undefined but affects “all matters relating to reproductive health care.”

By failing to specify the laws and constitutional provisions it would repeal, directly or by implication, the initiative petition that led to proposed Amendment 3 violated both the Missouri Constitution and state statutes. Missouri Revised Statute Section 116.050 requires that signers of an initiative petition be informed of “[t]he full and correct text” of the initiative, which must “[i]nclude all sections of existing law or of the constitution which would be repealed by the measure.” Missourians signing the petition to put Amendment 3 on the ballot illegally did not see this information, despite the clear legal mandate requiring such information to be listed.

While Missouri Circuit Court Judge Limbaugh found that Amendment 3’s ballot petition violated state law, he deferred entering the relief such a violation requires—an injunction removing the Amendment from the ballot—pending review by a higher court before the statutory deadline for printing the ballots, which is Tuesday, September 10, 2024. Expedited review by that date is expected in either the Court of Appeals or the Missouri Supreme Court.

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