News & Commentary

The Rhode Island ACLU today expressed deep disappointment today at a decision by U.S. District Judge William Smith, upholding the constitutionality of the Town of Narragansett’s highly-publicized “orange sticker” ordinance.

R.I. Superior Court Judge Brian Stern today denied the Barrington School Committee’s motion to dismiss an open meetings lawsuit filed against it by the RI ACLU and the Barrington Times.

Two months after the R.I. Commission for Human Rights found “probable cause” to believe that Senesco Marine, a large ship construction and repair facility in North Kingstown, had engaged in activities that violated state anti-discrimination laws, the company has settled the discrimination complaint filed against it by the R.I. ACLU.  Under the settlement agreement announced today, Senesco agreed to revise its employment application form to remove language that the ACLU claimed unlawfully discriminated against job applicants with disabilities.  In addition, the company agreed to pay $4,000 in attorneys’ fees.

The Rhode Island ACLU today applauded the General Assembly for approving a series of civil liberties-protective bills over the veto of Governor Donald Carcieri. The three pieces of legislation – covering the right to privacy, civil rights, and gay rights – were enacted into law yesterday by overwhelming margins.

In papers filed today in Superior Court, the Rhode Island ACLU has labeled as “downright Orwellian” arguments being made by the Barrington School Committee in seeking to dismiss an open meetings lawsuit that The Barrington Times and the ACLU filed against the public body in August. The suit argues that the School Committee unlawfully met in closed session last year to discuss the merits of instituting a mandatory breathalyzer policy for students attending school dances. The suit further charges that school committee agendas, by using “vague boilerplate terminology,” routinely fail to specify the nature of the business to be discussed at meetings. The school committee has justified its secret meeting by citing the open meeting law’s “litigation” exemption, pointing to a letter that the ACLU had written two months before the meeting that raised policy concerns about breathalyzer tests of students.

The Rhode Island ACLU has filed an administrative complaint against the North Smithfield School Committee for its adoption earlier this year of a “pay to play” policy, charging an “athletic management fee” of $150 for students wishing to participate in interscholastic sports. The complaint, filed before the R.I. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DOE) by RI ACLU volunteer attorney Merlyn O’Keefe, argues that the policy violates state law and is in direct conflict with a number of opinions issued by the DOE on this issue over the years.

Stating a need “to set the record straight,” the RI ACLU has today released a letter sent to state legislative leaders that responds to calls by police and other advocates for stricter drunk driving laws – including the use of “sobriety checkpoints” – in light of a recent federal report examining drunk driving fatalities in the state.

The RI ACLU has filed a federal lawsuit against the Town of Johnston and police chief Richard Tamburini for illegally releasing the private driver's license information of a firefighter to a Town Councilman as part of a public dispute between the Council and the Fire Department. The lawsuit, filed by RI ACLU volunteer attorney James Kelleher, is on behalf of town resident and firefighter Edward Simone, who was the victim of the disclosure.

The Rhode Island ACLU has asked the state Department of Health to reconsider an order it issued against Rhode Island Hospital on November 2nd, requiring video and audiotaping of surgeries at the facility.