News & Commentary

The ACLU of Rhode Island today announced that a settlement had been reached in a federal lawsuit it filed two years ago against the Woonsocket Police Department on behalf of a woman who was strip-searched and left naked in a holding cell for over five hours after being arrested for “driving under the influence.” Under the settlement, the defendants agreed to pay $65,000 to plaintiff Joann Lanoue in exchange for dismissal of the suit. The agreement specifies that it does not constitute any acknowledgement of wrongdoing by Woonsocket police officials.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today entered an appearance in federal court on behalf of Sirak Gebremichael, an Ethiopian immigrant who has been imprisoned for three years by the federal immigration service (“BICE”) solely because he overstayed his visa. The ACLU called Gebremichael’s case the latest example of the federal government’s “low regard” for the rights of immigrants.

The ACLU of RI has called on URI President Robert Carothers to intervene and correct “a very disturbing issue of academic censorship” at the University. It involves Women’s Studies Professor Donna Hughes, an expert on the international trafficking of women and children.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today announced the settlement of a lawsuit it filed against the Tiverton School Committee in 2002, challenging on free speech grounds a policy that barred members of the general public from orally initiating “charges” or “complaints” against school employees during the public comment portion of School Committee meetings. Under the settlement agreement dismissing the suit in light of revisions made to the policy, the school district agreed to pay $7,500 in attorneys fees to the ACLU lawyers in the case.

Ruling from the bench today, U.S. District Judge William Smith issued a favorable decision in the ACLU’s discrimination lawsuit against the Town of North Smithfield and its plans to hire en masse 21 white males for the Town’s new fire department. Last August, Judge Smith issued a temporary restraining order barring the hiring from taking place. The ACLU’s lawsuit, handled by volunteer attorneys Lynette Labinger and John Dineen, is on behalf of Christine Melendez, who had been prevented from applying for a firefighter position because of the Town’s plans.

The ACLU of Rhode Island has today filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the environmental group Clean Water Action, challenging a Johnston Town Council directive barring the group from engaging in political door-to-door canvassing between 7 and 9 PM. The lawsuit, filed by ACLU volunteer attorney Carolyn Mannis, argues that the restriction, imposed at a Town Council meeting last month, violates the group’s First Amendment rights.

In response to Governor Carcieri’s recent unsuccessful attempt, as part of a “homeland security” bill, to resurrect World War I statutes banning such things as advocacy of anarchy, the ACLU today announced that legislation is being introduced by Rep. Fausto Anguilla to repeal more than a dozen archaic and unconstitutional, but still active, state laws that infringe upon free speech.

In a three-page letter, the ACLU of Rhode Island has called on members of the Roger Williams University Student Senate to halt continuing efforts to punish the College Republican club for its free speech activities. The ACLU was contacted by the club earlier this week in response to introduction of a Senate resolution that would revoke the club’s charter for its awarding of a $250 “whites only” scholarship as a political statement by the Club about affirmative action. The resolution was narrowly defeated on Wednesday, but the club fears the issue may be brought up again. In its letter to Student Senate President Erin Bedell, the ACLU called the Senate’s “efforts at censorship” both “counter-productive and inimical to the critical goal of any university in promoting wide-ranging, robust and uninhibited speech.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston today rejected the ACLU’s appeal of a racial profiling lawsuit brought on behalf of a 53-year-old African-American resident of Hopkinton, Bernard Flowers, who was stopped in his car and detained at gunpoint by Westerly police in 2000. By a 2-1 vote, the court, while calling it “a close case,” said that Westerly police had “reasonable suspicion” when they pulled Flowers over. The appeal was handled by ACLU volunteer attorney Thomas G. Briody.