The Freedom Center of Missouri (FCMo) is a public interest law firm focused on issues of individual liberty, especially as it pertains to constitutional issues and Sunshine Law violations. 1
The Freedom Center of Missouri is an associate member of the State Policy Network. 2
Activity
The Freedom Center of Missouri (FCMo) is a non-profit public interest law firm focused on issues of individual liberty, especially as it pertains to constitutional issues and Sunshine Law violations. 3 FCMo takes on cases related to constitutional issues and Sunshine Law violations, with a special interest in laws and policies that it believes violate citizens’ rights. 4
As of late 2020, the Freedom Center of Missouri is involved in a case demanding that Missouri courts uphold citizens’ rights to self-defense. FCMo was successful in its case urging Boone County to provide complete death records to the family of a community activist killed in 2018. Past cases have involved suspicionless stops, protecting first amendment rights of activists, and Sunshine Law violations in the St. Louis County Drug Task Force. 5
Funding
The Freedom Center of Missouri receives funding from individual donors and does not disclose funding from any other sources. Tax records show that the Brunner Foundation contributed $15,000 to FCMo in 2017. 6
People
Staff
Jenifer Zeigler Roland is the executive director and co-founder of the Freedom Center of Missouri. Roland formerly served as a legal and policy analyst for the Cato Institute, a legislative affairs attorney for the Institute for Justice, and a director of policy for the Show-Me Institute. 7
Dave Roland is the director of litigation and co-founder of the FCMo. Roland is a former attorney with the Institute for Justice, a former attorney and policy analyst for the Show-Me Institute, and a former director of the Theodore L. Stiles Center for Liberty at the Freedom Foundation. Roland serves as the secretary of the board of FCMo. 8
Board of Directors
Brent Haden serves as president of the board. Haden is a former member of the Federalist Society and the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. 9
Beverlee Roper served in the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the Office of Public Affairs and the Office of the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division. Roper also served as a trial attorney in the Environmental Enforcement Division of the DOJ. 10
Justin Gelfand is a former staff writer for the Institute for Justice, a former trial attorney and federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice (DOJ), and a former faculty member at the DOJ’s National Advocacy Center. 11
Rachel (Douchant) Ferguson is the director of the Liberty and Ethics Center at Hammond Institute for Free Enterprise. 12
Randy England is a former Missouri prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer. 13
References
- “Do You Need Our Help?” Freedom Center of Missouri, 2020. Accessed October 16, 2020. http://www.mofreedom.org/help/.
- “The Network: Missouri.” State Policy Network, 2020. Accessed October 16, 2020. https://spn.org/directory/#MO.
- “Do You Need Our Help?” Freedom Center of Missouri, 2020. Accessed October 16, 2020. http://www.mofreedom.org/help/.
- “Do You Need Our Help?” Freedom Center of Missouri, 2020. Accessed October 16, 2020. http://www.mofreedom.org/help/.
- “Home.” Freedom Center of Missouri, 2020. Accessed October 16, 2020. http://www.mofreedom.org/.
- The Brunner Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2017, Part XV, Line 3.
- “About Us.” Freedom Center of Missouri, 2020. Accessed October 16, 2020. http://www.mofreedom.org/about/.
- “About Us.” Freedom Center of Missouri, 2020. Accessed October 16, 2020. http://www.mofreedom.org/about/.
- “About Us.” Freedom Center of Missouri, 2020. Accessed October 16, 2020. http://www.mofreedom.org/about/.
- “About Us.” Freedom Center of Missouri, 2020. Accessed October 16, 2020. http://www.mofreedom.org/about/.
- “Justin Gelfand.” LinkedIn, 2020. Accessed October 17, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-gelfand-1024194/.
- “About Us.” Freedom Center of Missouri, 2020. Accessed October 16, 2020. http://www.mofreedom.org/about/.
- “About Us.” Freedom Center of Missouri, 2020. Accessed October 16, 2020. http://www.mofreedom.org/about/.