Civil Liberties Defense Act: American Standards for Missouri Courts

The Civil Liberties Defense Act establishes a clear and necessary principle: civil liberties claims in Missouri courts must be evaluated under American constitutional standards, not the norms of foreign legal systems. This is not an abstract concern. Courts in various jurisdictions have at times cited international or foreign law when interpreting rights related to religion, speech, and conscience. Missouri's faith communities deserve assurance that their constitutional protections will not be quietly narrowed by reference to legal frameworks built on incompatible foundations.

Many foreign legal systems, including those rooted in religious or authoritarian state structures, treat religious minorities, women, and dissenters in ways that would be plainly unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. When rulings touching on those systems are imported into American courtrooms, the risk is not theoretical. The Civil Liberties Defense Act responds to that risk with a targeted, structural remedy: such rulings are simply unenforceable in Missouri.

The American Council affirms that this bill is not hostile to religious law as such. Communities of faith govern their internal life by their own convictions, and that freedom is precious. The bill's concern is narrower and appropriate: it addresses situations where a ruling derived from a foreign legal system would, if enforced, override the constitutional rights of a person under Missouri jurisdiction. That is a legitimate legislative line to draw.

The bill creates no new substantive rights and imposes no burden on any private party. It is a procedural safeguard that ensures existing constitutional guarantees remain the operative standard in Missouri courts. For communities whose religious liberty has historically been the first casualty when foreign legal norms displace constitutional ones, this protection is both practical and principled.

The American Council supports the Civil Liberties Defense Act and urges its passage. Anchoring civil liberties adjudication in American constitutional standards is a reasonable, measured step that strengthens the foundation on which every Missourian's freedom rests.