Missouri Federal Court Bars Enforcement of State Efforts to Restrict Sex Offenders on Halloween

There has been a lot happening around the blogosphere related to Halloween crackdowns on sex offenders. Perhaps most notably, a federal district court in Missouri has issued a preliminary injunction barring some efforts in that state. From the order:

In their complaint, the plaintiffs claim that the statute violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in that the statute fails to provide fair notice of the conduct it proscribes. If the plaintiffs succeed on the merits of the due process claim, the statute will be unenforceable not only as to the plaintiffs but as to all persons required to register as sexual offenders. The Court believes it is appropriate at the preliminary injunctive stage to focus on the actions of the defendants with respect to enforcement of the statute on October 31, 2008, as opposed to limiting the requested relief to the plaintiffs.

Constitutional Law Prof, Above the Law, Althouse, TalkLeft, SexOffenderResearch, and Volokh Conspiracy are also covering the case. SexOffenderResearch also has a lot of other posts about ongoing crackdowns in other states.