News & Commentary

Following up a federal court’s decision earlier this month finding unconstitutional the display of a prayer mural in Cranston High School West’s auditorium, Rhode Island ACLU attorneys have today asked the court to award $173,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs for their successful work on the case. Federal law gives prevailing plaintiffs in constitutional cases like this the right to recover their attorneys’ fees from the defendants, in this instance the City of Cranston and school committee.

On Jessica’s standing to bring the lawsuit: “Like the student in Lee v. Weisman [the RI ACLU’s successful lawsuit against public school graduation prayers], she is a captive audience. Beyond that, Plaintiff has stated that the presence of a Christian prayer on the wall of her school has made her feel ostracized and out of place. She has also stated that she doesn’t find the text of the Prayer to be offensive. The Court fails to find these statements inconsistent. It is possible to object to the presence of the Prayer Mural without having to find its goals of academic achievement and good sportsmanship offensive. While her injuries might be characterized as abstract, those injuries are consistent with the injuries complained of by other plaintiffs in Establishment Clause litigation.”

The Rhode Island ACLU today applauded a decision issued by U.S. District Judge Ronald Lagueux in the ACLU’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a prayer mural addressed to “Our Heavenly Father” that is displayed in the auditorium of a Cranston public high school. In a 40-page opinion, the court found the display to violate the First Amendment and ordered its immediate removal. The lawsuit, filed last April by RI ACLU volunteer attorneys Lynette Labinger and Thomas Bender, was on behalf of Jessica Ahlquist, now a junior at Cranston High School West, who in the past year has spoken out vigorously against her school’s prayer display.

The Rhode Island Press Association and Beacon Communications, the publisher of the Warwick Beacon, have today filed a lawsuit challenging a state law that has been interpreted to bar the media from running advertisements containing the names and photographs of public officials without their permission. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on the groups’ behalf by the Rhode Island ACLU, argues that the statute “has an impermissible and unconstitutional chilling effect on free speech and on the free exchange of ideas” in violation of the First Amendment.

A trial is scheduled to begin next week in the Rhode Island ACLU’s federal lawsuit challenging the City of Pawtucket’s long-standing practice of giving preferential treatment to parochial schools over public schools in granting permits for the use of city athletics fields. The trial will take place before U.S. District Chief Judge Mary Lisi at 10 AM on Monday.

The Rhode Island ACLU submitted written testimony to the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education prior to a work session the Board held yesterday on proposed rules that would affect the public's opportunity to make comments at Board meetings.  At yesterday’s meeting, the Board of Regents specifically discussed aspects of the proposal that would give the chairperson greater discretion on deciding who could speak at the meetings.

RI ACLU executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement today in response to news reports that Providence police have used special infra-red technology to determine whether people have been sleeping overnight inside the tents in Burnside Park where the “Occupy Providence” protest is taking place:

The RI ACLU testified yesterday against proposed state Board of Elections' regulations that would bar voters from wearing political buttons or clothing with political messages into polling places.  The ACLU's testimony argued that in addition to raising First Amendment concerns, such a restriction was inconsistent with state law provisions defining improper "electioneering."