Tag: Missouri

Effort to discipline Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley ends in failure; critic says ethics process is ‘opaque, arbitrary’

An effort to discipline Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., for his statements about the 2020 presidential election has received a final rejection from state legal authorities, leaving the man who led the effort feeling “ripped off.”  In two recent letters to Alan B. Hoffman, the retired St. Louis lawyer who led the group seeking punishment, the…

Missouri attorney general aligns with St. Louis far-right disinformation site ahead of election

After Attorney General  Eric Schmitt won the Republican primary August 2 for the open U.S. Senate seat in Missouri, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch expressed the hope that he would pivot to the center for the general election.  But Schmitt continued his embrace of “toxic radicalism,” as the Post  has commented.  And an indication that that…

News Analysis: Liberty, privacy and women’s equality at stake in abortion decision

The constitutional promise that the U.S. Supreme Court is about to reinterpret and restrict in its abortion decision is the deepest well of individual freedom, autonomy and privacy in the Constitution. It doesn’t just protect women. It protects everyone. For that reason, the leaked draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito raises questions about whether that…

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s unconstitutional attack on the press

From afar, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s attempt to prosecute a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter looks like the folly of a vindictive politician who doesn’t understand computers or the First Amendment. But it is more serious than that. A governor trying to prosecute a journalist for reporting publicly available information poses a serious threat to press…