News & Commentary

The Rhode Island ACLU today filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Pawtucket, charging 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, filed on behalf of seven Pawtucket parents and their children, 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.

The Rhode Island ACLU and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, a national organization that promotes economic justice for low-income families, today announced that a favorable settlement had been reached in their federal lawsuit filed in July against the state Department of Human Services (DHS), alleging that the state’s failure to timely process food stamp applications was resulting in the denial of “desperately needed assistance to help [applicants] feed their families,” and forcing them to “suffer hunger as a result.” The class-action lawsuit, filed by RI ACLU volunteer attorney Lynette Labinger and attorneys for the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, had sought an injunction requiring the state to process food stamp applications within the time frames established by federal law.

In response to a lawsuit filed by the Rhode Island ACLU last month, U.S. District Judge William Smith has today struck down a Central Falls charter provision that kept Mayoral candidate Hipolito Fontes off the ballot. The judge agreed that the local Board of Canvassers acted unconstitutionally in disqualifying him from the ballot for allegedly failing to submit sufficient nomination signatures.

The Rhode Island ACLU and The Barrington Times have today filed new claims in a pending lawsuit against the Barrington School Committee, alleging additional and repeated Open Meetings Act (OMA) violations.

The Rhode Island ACLU has today filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Central Falls Mayoral candidate Hipolito Fontes, arguing that the local Board of Canvassers acted unconstitutionally in disqualifying him from the ballot earlier this month for allegedly failing to submit sufficient nomination signatures.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has filed a habeas corpus petition asking a federal court to release Rhode Island resident Richard Hatch from jail in Barnstable County.  Mr. Hatch was arrested and is being held in jail for talking to members of the media about his tax evasion case without getting formal approval from the federal Bureau of Prisons.  The petition follows unsuccessful efforts by the Rhode Island ACLU to have the disciplinary charges against him dismissed.  Mr. Hatch gained notoriety for having won the first season of the television show "Survivor," and for the legal battle regarding his taxes that ensued.

The Rhode Island ACLU today announced the settlement of a federal lawsuit it filed last October against the Town of West Warwick, challenging on free speech grounds the enforcement of an ordinance that significantly limited the posting of political signs. The suit was filed by ACLU volunteer attorney Richard Sinapi on behalf of local resident Thomas K. Jones, who at the time was both a state legislative candidate and an outspoken critic of plans to develop a water park in the town.

Rhode Island ACLU executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement today in response to news reports that Richard Hatch was arrested and is being held in jail for talking to members of the media about his tax evasion case without getting formal approval from the federal Bureau of Prisons:

Calling the decision “unjust and erroneous,” the Rhode Island ACLU today filed a “friend of the court” brief urging reversal of a federal district court ruling that threw out a case against the Department of Children Youth and Families (DCYF) for the mistreatment of foster children in its care. The brief was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston by RI ACLU volunteer attorneys Andrew Prescott and Steven Richard of the law firm of Nixon Peabody LLP.