News & Commentary

Today’s decision from the Court affirms the basic principle of our judicial system that the doors to justice shall remain open to all.

The RI Department of Labor and Training (DLT) has agreed to take numerous steps to prevent a repeat of last year’s debacle when thousands of residents had their unemployment insurance benefit payments unexpectedly frozen without any notice or explanation. The settlement comes today in a lawsuit filed by ACLU of RI during the early stages of the COVID pandemic, when many in Rhode Island were forced to rely on unemployment benefits to make ends meet.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today called on the city councils in Cranston, Pawtucket, and Woonsocket to direct their respective police departments to halt the use of automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology leased from the company Flock Safety. In a letter sent to the city council and mayor of each municipality, the ACLU expressed concerns about the serious privacy issues such technologies can pose to all residents and noted that these systems were inappropriately installed on a trial basis in the absence of any public notice, input or statutory guidance.

Under the stipulation, the Mayor agreed to no longer block individuals from her page “based on First Amendment-protected viewpoints expressed.”

These are not decisions that should be unilaterally made by law enforcement. The public should have a say about whether they want potentially invasive and discriminatory technologies in their neighborhoods.

This is a major First Amendment lawsuit challenging Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt’s actions in banning some of her critics from her Facebook page.

The habeas corpus petition argues that DOC’s action violates a host of constitutional rights and contravenes state law, and asks for Martinez’s immediate release from custody, subject to Parole Board conditions.

The ACLU has called on Mayor Elorza and Commissioner of Public Safety Paré to address the “constitutionally suspect procedural shortcuts” that it took last week in an attempt to oust the people living in a homeless encampment on Wilson Street in PVD.

“Plaintiffs’ inability to assert civil actions by virtue of this statute burdens their fundamental right of access to the courts because they are unable to challenge the conditions of their confinement, namely, the physical harm they allegedly suffered while confined.”