News & Commentary

The ACLU of Rhode Island has called on Attorney General Patrick Lynch to withdraw a recent advisory opinion issued by his office which, the ACLU argues, “has enormous adverse consequences for open government and overturns over 25 years of precedent.”  The opinion held that the Open Meetings Act’s restriction on the use of “electronic communication” to hold meetings does not include “telephonic” communication. The ACLU learned of the opinion last week when a legislative committee heard a bill, sponsored by Sen. Frank Ciccone, designed to overturn that ruling.

The ACLU of Rhode Island has settled a discrimination complaint against the Town of North Smithfield on behalf of Thomas Bourgeois, who was denied appointment as a school coach last year solely because of his gender.

The Tiverton School Committee and the Rhode Island ACLU have settled a suit the School Committee had filed seeking clarification of its obligations to Cheryl McCullough, a retired Tiverton School Department employee seeking to add Joyce Boivin, McCullough’s same-sex spouse, to her health insurance plan. The lawsuit was filed in September against McCullough, a Tiverton guidance counselor and health educator for 27 years, and her spouse, Joyce Boivin. They were married last year in Massachusetts, where they reside, following that state’s supreme court decision allowing same-sex couples to marry.  After being sued, McCullough contacted the ACLU for assistance.

The R.I. ACLU today announced the settlement of its racial profiling lawsuit against the Scituate Police Department in a case in which the ACLU alleged that Pawtucket resident Jean Philippe Barros, a person of Cape Verdean descent, was the victim of racial profiling when he was stopped, questioned and ticketed. Without acknowledging any wrongdoing, the Town has agreed to pay Barros $10,500. Last October, a federal jury cleared the police, but the ACLU appealed, challenging significant restrictions on the evidence that the judge allowed the jury to consider. As a result of the settlement, the appeal is being dismissed.

Following a year of correspondence with Providence city officials, the ACLU succeeded in having removed from Roger Williams Park a large and long-standing granite monument of the Ten Commandments. The monument had been on Park property since 1963, when it was donated as part of a nationwide campaign by the Fraternal Order of Eagles.  Some Providence City Council members, however, have started a campaign to have it returned to the City.

The ACLU has called on Governor Carcieri to reject a proposal that he ask the R.I. Supreme Court to revisit the question of drunk driving roadblocks, which in 1989 the court found to be a violation of the state constitution’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. In a recent letter, Attorney General Patrick Lynch asked the Governor to seek a Supreme Court advisory opinion revisiting the issue.

The ACLU of Rhode Island is representing a retired Tiverton School Department employee seeking to add her same-sex spouse to her health insurance benefits plan.  Cheryl McCoullough, a Tiverton guidance counselor and health educator for 27 years, married Joyce Boivin in Massachusetts last year following that state's supreme court ruling that allowed same-sex couples to marry. They reside in Massachusetts.

Calling it a “a dubious setting of priorities, a potential blueprint for the violation of peaceful protesters’ free speech rights, and a questionable use of taxpayer money,” the R.I. ACLU today revealed that the City of Providence obtained over $100,000 of FY2004 federal homeland security money – almost 25% of the funds earmarked to the police department – for police officers to attend a training on how to handle protests and broadly-defined “civil actions” that arise out of a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) incident. Among other things, the course “provides law enforcement officers with the skills and tactics necessary to prepare for and successfully mitigate protesters and their devices.” A catalog for the course further explains: “Civil actions in threat incidents are known by a variety of names: riots, civil disturbances, or protests. From a small, peaceful assembly to a large out-of-control violent confrontation, public safety officials must be prepared to handle the incident.”

The ACLU of Rhode Island today said that the Warwick Board of Public Safety “set a dangerous and unconstitutional precedent” in banning a local nightclub from hosting hip-hop or rap music. The ban was imposed on Tuesday on “Barry’s” nightclub, in response to an incident earlier this month where a man was shot at the club. Although the club owner had voluntarily agreed to no longer offer this type of entertainment, the Board amended the club’s liquor license to explicitly ban these particular musical events.