No. 25-1892 (8th Cir. Oct. 5, 2026)
Missouri's registration law survives an Eighth Amendment challenge, and every other claim, without the court deciding whether it is punishment.
Not yet final. Decided October 5, 2026. The time for rehearing has not run and no mandate has issued; plaintiffs' counsel has said they are considering next steps. Binds federal courts in its circuit only. Persuasive, not binding, everywhere else.
Sixteen Missouri registrants, joined by spouses and minor children, brought thirteen constitutional claims against the Missouri State Highway Patrol officials who run the registry under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 589.400 et seq. After a bench trial, the Western District of Missouri entered judgment for the defendants on all but one count. That count, on when online identifiers must be reported, was not appealed.
In a unanimous opinion by Judge Erickson, the panel affirmed. Even assuming the law is punitive for Eighth Amendment purposes, the registrants did not show it is cruel and unusual or grossly disproportionate. The panel adopted the Missouri Supreme Court’s Doe v. Olson reasoning to reject the ex post facto claim. It also held that the due process and equal protection claims fail rational-basis review, that the dismissal of the online-identifier First Amendment claim was correct, that “other identity information” is not vague, and that the family members’ claims were properly dismissed.
The court declined to treat changes in internet access and technology since Smith v. Doe as grounds to depart from that precedent, and it resolved the Eighth Amendment claim on the cruel-and-unusual question alone.
It did not decide whether Missouri’s law is punishment for Eighth Amendment purposes, though its ex post facto holding adopts the Missouri Supreme Court’s conclusion that the law is reasonable in light of non-punitive objectives. It did not resolve whether the challenge was facial or as-applied, and it did not address the exclusion-zone provisions, which were not on appeal. It binds federal courts in the Eighth Circuit only.
District court (W.D. Mo., No. 2:21-cv-04102-BP) enters judgment after a bench trial: defendants win on the Eighth Amendment, ex post facto and vagueness counts; plaintiffs win on the online-identifier reporting instruction.
Argued in the Eighth Circuit.
Eighth Circuit affirms on every claim on appeal.
Last verified against the sources above on October 15, 2026.
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