News & Commentary

Ruling in a case brought by the Rhode Island ACLU, a federal court has ruled unconstitutional a state law and regulations that allow billboard signs on buildings near highways only if the sign promotes an activity taking place on the property. The suit was on behalf of Anthony Joseph Vono and his business, Specialty Promotions, which was cited in 2005 by the R.I. Department of Transportation for having a billboard sign that advertised “off premises activity.” In supporting Vono’s First Amendment rights, U.S. District Judge William Smith found that the challenged state policies unconstitutionally gave greater protection to commercial speech than to political speech.

The RI ACLU has sharply criticized a proposal from Barrington police chief John LaCross to require all students attending high school dances to take a breathalyzer test.

The RI ACLU has filed a discrimination complaint against Senesco Marine, a large ship construction and repair facility in North Kingstown, claiming that the company is engaged in a “blatant violation of state and federal laws protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.” The complaint was filed yesterday with the R.I. Commission for Human Rights by RI ACLU volunteer attorney Michael Feldhuhn.

The Rhode Island ACLU today said it would appeal a ruling issued yesterday in a federal lawsuit filed last year against the R.I. State Police, challenging the legality of the detention and transporting to immigration officials of fourteen people, all Guatemalans, who were stopped in a van on I-95 after the driver changed lanes without using a turn signal. The lawsuit, filed by RI ACLU volunteer attorney V. Edward Formisano on behalf of eleven of the individuals, argued that the actions by the state police violated the state’s Racial Profiling Prevention Act, as well as the driver and passengers’ constitutional rights to be free from discrimination and from unreasonable searches and seizures. However, U.S. District Judge Mary Lisi has ruled that the officers’ conduct was lawful.

A 25-year-old state law that could be formally implemented next month significantly undermines the principle that court proceedings should be open to the public, the RI ACLU said today. The ACLU will instead seek to have the statute repealed before it is implemented.

In the latest example of a police department choosing to ignore its clear legal responsibilities to release public documents, the Rhode Island ACLU has today filed an open records lawsuit against the North Smithfield Police for refusing to turn over an arrest report to a community activist.

Relying on a just-released court transcript, the Rhode Island ACLU charged today that officials at the Wyatt Detention Center were deliberately misleading in their public pronouncements on the death of Hiu Lui Ng, a Chinese national, at their facility in August. The transcript, the ACLU said, also lends credence to the view that Ng, near death and experiencing great pain, was dragged from his cell at Wyatt by immigration officials and forced to travel to Hartford, Connecticut in reprisal for a petition filed on July 29th by family lawyers seeking his release from prison because of his severe medical condition. Mr. Ng died a week later, on August 6th, as the result of complications from advanced cancer; he was also found to have a broken spine. The RI ACLU is preparing a civil suit on behalf of the family.

The Rhode Island ACLU today announced the favorable settlement of its lawsuit against the state and the Town of Richmond on behalf of Rhode Island Representative-Elect Rod Driver, whose political signs were repeatedly removed by town officials during a campaign for office in 2006.

The Rhode Island ACLU has filed a motion in R.I. Superior Court, asking that the state be held in contempt or subject to a restraining order for ignoring the dictates of a September 15th court ruling addressing the legality of Governor Donald Carcieri’s controversial “immigration executive order” requiring all vendors and contractors with the state to participate in the federal employment authorization system known as E-Verify.