Active Cases

These are a few of the cases in which the Rhode Island ACLU is currently involved:

Ahlquist v. City of Cranston

CHURCH AND STATE (2011-ongoing)
A federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a prayer mural addressed to “Our Heavenly Father” that is displayed in the auditorium of a Cranston public high school. The lawsuit, filed by RI ACLU volunteer attorneys Lynette Labinger and Thomas Bender, is on behalf of Jessica Ahlquist, a sophomore at Cranston High School West, who in the past year has spoken out against her school’s prayer display.
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Beacon Commications, Inc. and the Rhode Island Press Association v. Kilmartin

FIRST AMENDMENT (2012)

A lawsuit challenging a state law that has been interpreted to bar the media from running advertisements containing the names and photographs of public officials without their permission. The lawsuit argues that the statute “has an impermissible and unconstitutional chilling effect on free speech and on the free exchange of ideas” in violation of the First Amendment.
News Release | Lawsuit

Boyer v. Jeremiah

STUDENTS' RIGHTS (2010)
A class-action lawsuit charging that the state’s truancy court system is devoid of due process protections in violation of state and federal law, that the truancy courts are frequently punitive in nature, and that truancy court magistrates threaten vulnerable children and their parents with baseless fines and imprisonment, remove children from the custody of their parents without legal justification and fail to keep adequate records of court hearings.
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Cook v. Wall

RIGHTS OF PRISONERS (2009)
A federal lawsuit alleging that correctional officials have engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional harassment against inmate Jason Cook after he publicly criticized Department of Corrections’ mail policies and sought legal assistance from the ACLU.
News Release | Lawsuit

Gianfrocco v. Cranston School Department

RIGHTS OF EX-OFFENDERS (2010)
A lawsuit challenging a school district policy barring parents with any felony drug offenses from serving as school volunteers. Administrative complaints with the Department of Education and the Human Rights Commission have also been filed. Settlement negotiations are proceeding.
News Release | Complaint

Lavik v. Department of Motor Vehicles

DUE PROCESS (2011)
A lawsuit challenging the Division of Motor Vehicle’s reliance on an unwritten “policy” to withhold reinstatement of plaintiff’s driving license after he paid the tax obligations that had initially prompted the license suspension.
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Lin Li Qu v. Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation

RIGHTS OF IMMIGRANTS/RIGHTS OF PRISONERS (2009)
A federal lawsuit on behalf of the family of Hiu Lui (“Jason”) Ng, a 34-year-old Chinese detainee who died last August while in the custody of immigration officials at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls.
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Phoenix Times Publishing Company v. Barrington School Committee

OPEN GOVERNMENT (2009)
An Open Meetings Act (OMA) lawsuit against the Barrington School Committee for unlawfully meeting in closed session this past February to discuss the merits of instituting a mandatory breathalyzer policy for all students attending school dances.
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Rogers v. Mulholland

CHURCH/STATE (2009)
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of seven Pawtucket parents and their children, charges that the Parks and Recreation Division has, for a number of years, given preferential treatment to parochial schools over public schools in granting permits for the use of city athletics fields. The lawsuit seeks a court order declaring unconstitutional both the preferential treatment to religious schools and the City’s lack of any objective standards for granting permits for use of the fields.
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