News & Commentary

If a dog is declared vicious, does a town have the right to seize the animal and potentially euthanize it solely because the pet owner lives within one mile of a school or daycare facility? The ACLU of RI has entered its appearance in a court case in order to challenge the enforcement of a North Kingstown ordinance that orders just that, and that has placed a local family in the position of losing their pets despite complying with all relevant state laws. The case also raises fundamental due process concerns since the town had already agreed in a legal proceeding that the animals could be kept if the owners took steps, which they did, to better confine the pets.

In a letter sent to Police Chief Hugh Clements, Jr., the American Civil Liberties of Rhode Island is urging the Providence Police Department to reject immigration detainers issued without judicial oversight now that the state Department of Corrections has ended the practice of detaining individuals based solely on these requests.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today praised Governor Lincoln Chafee for adopting a policy that no longer authorizes holding individuals at the ACI on the basis of questionable immigration detainers.

ACLU of Rhode Island executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement in response to the House of Representatives' approval this afternoon of legislation requiring law enforcement to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested for certain offenses:

The ACLU of Rhode Island has today filed a lawsuit in R.I. Superior Court over the R.I. Board of Education’s (BOE) failure to consider a petition filed last month by seventeen organizations to do away with the Board’s “high stakes testing” graduation requirement. The lawsuit, filed by ACLU volunteer attorneys Marc Gursky and Elizabeth Wiens, argues that the Board had an obligation under state law, which it ignored, to consider the proposal and either reject it or initiate a formal rule-making process to consider its adoption.

A federal judge yesterday refused to dismiss an ACLU lawsuit brought on behalf of an ACI inmate who was retaliated against by guards after he publicly criticized Department of Corrections’ mail policies and sought legal assistance from the ACLU (see the ruling and the report and recommendation). The pattern of harassment against inmate Jason Cook, which included strip searches, loss of his prison job, destruction of his personal property, and disciplinary time in segregation, began after Cook was quoted in a Providence Journal story criticizing a DOC policy limiting the written materials available to inmates. The policy was later rescinded.

The Narragansett Town Council has tentatively agreed to resolve a lawsuit filed by the ACLU in April on behalf of three URI pharmacy graduate students who received tickets for parking their cars overnight on their street even though they had a permit to do so.

The ACLU today filed a lawsuit in federal district court on behalf of a Cranston resident, seeking the return of a variety of lawfully possessed weapons that were seized from him almost nine months ago by police. The lawsuit, filed by RI ACLU volunteer attorney Thomas W. Lyons on behalf of Robert Machado, argues that the Cranston Police Department has violated his right to due process and his right to keep and bear arms by retaining his property without just cause. In September of last year, police and fire paramedics came to Machado’s house after receiving a call from a friend of his that he might be suicidal. Machado told the police that his friend had misconstrued a conversation they had had, but he agreed to be transported to Our Lady of Fatima Hospital for a mental health evaluation. The examination found no problems and he was promptly released from the hospital. Unbeknownst to Machado, however, police in the meantime seized for “safe keeping” from his home various weapons he lawfully possessed, including firearms and a collection of ceremonial samurai swords. Eager to have his possessions returned, Machado followed up by obtaining a letter from his psychotherapist that he had never “demonstrated suicidal tendencies or thoughts,” and “there should be no concern” returning his weapons. The police still refused to release them and advised Machado that he would need to obtain a court order to get them back. After further unsuccessful efforts to get his items returned, Machado contacted the ACLU. The lawsuit claims that the police department’s “customs, policies and practices” of requiring “weapons owners who are not charged with a crime to engage in formal litigation in order to recover their seized property” violates Machado’s due process rights as well as his Second Amendment rights. The suit seeks a court order declaring the police department’s practice unconstitutional and ordering the return of his weapons. ACLU attorney Lyons said today, “We hope this suit will ensure that Mr. Machado and his fellow citizens will no longer be exposed to violations of their constitutional rights.” Because other police departments may have similar unconstitutional policies, the ACLU expressed hope that the lawsuit would force other departments to reexamine them.

The RI ACLU today filed a lawsuit against the Town of Narragansett in what the ACLU calls “the latest attempt by the town to unnecessarily harass and intimidate URI students living there.” The suit, filed in RI Superior Court by ACLU volunteer attorney H. Jefferson Melish, is on behalf of three URI pharmacy graduate students who have received tickets for parking their cars overnight on their street even though they have a permit to do so.