Lucas Cierpiot, son of Missouri state Sen. Mike Cierpiot (R-Lee’s Summit), has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Mike Kehoe, alleging his First Amendment rights were violated when Kehoe preemptively declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard ahead of June’s “No Kings” protests. Cierpiot, a disability-rights activist who is legally blind in one eye, said the move intimidated him and kept him from participating in peaceful demonstrations.
The lawsuit, filed in Jackson County, argues the order unlawfully restricted free speech and discriminated against people with vision impairments who are particularly vulnerable to crowd-control tactics such as rubber bullets or tear gas. “It was an abuse of process to declare a false emergency when a true emergency did not exist,” Cierpiot wrote.
Kehoe issued Executive Order 25-25 on June 12, citing potential unrest. He later traveled to Europe on a trade mission during the declared emergency. Civil liberties groups, including the ACLU of Missouri, denounced the move as an effort to suppress dissent. The protests, which drew thousands across the state, proceeded peacefully.
Cierpiot is representing himself but said he is seeking legal counsel.
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