News & Commentary

At the urging of the ACLU, local media outlets and open records advocates, the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island announced that it will amend a proposed court rule that, as originally written, would have severely curtailed the First Amendment rights of lawyers, litigants and court employees. 

The ACLU of Rhode Island has called on the Coventry School Committee to abandon its practice of barring community members from speaking about “personnel, litigation or negotiation” during the public comment portion of its meetings.  In a letter sent to the school committee and its solicitor, the ACLU argued that the policy was clearly unconstitutional.

Three local groups concerned about freedom of the press and the public’s right to know today criticized R.I. Attorney General Patrick Lynch for refusing to join with 34 fellow Attorneys General –- including those in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont – who last week filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the appeal of journalists Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper. These two nationally respected journalists are facing contempt of court sentences for refusing to reveal sources in response to a federal grand jury subpoena.

The ACLU today filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey’s lawsuit seeking an order allowing him to continue to host a radio talk show on WPRO. The brief, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston, precedes oral argument in the case scheduled on Thursday. Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Mary Lisi rejected Laffey’s request for a temporary restraining order against the Board of Elections’ ruling that the radio show constituted an illegal campaign contribution under state election law.

The American Civil Liberties Union charged today that the FBI and local police are engaging in intimidation based on political association and are improperly investigating law-abiding human rights and advocacy groups, according to documents obtained through a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. In response, the Rhode Island ACLU today filed a FOIA request seeking similar documents about activities taking place here.

Claiming that the ruling has “significant ramifications for First Amendment rights,” the ACLU has called on the state Board of Elections to reverse its decision barring Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey from continuing to host a radio talk show on WPRO. That ruling held that Laffey’s “receipt of airtime” from WPRO constituted an illegal “in-kind political contribution” from a corporation.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today announced the favorable settlement of a federal lawsuit it filed last year on behalf of the environmental group Clean Water Action (CWA), 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, successfully argued that the restriction violated the group’s First Amendment rights.

In an important victory for vigorous advocacy by civil rights attorneys, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston today reversed District Court Judge Mary Lisi’s sanctions on attorneys in the Cornel Young, Jr. civil rights case for allegedly misrepresenting the judge’s position in court papers. The Rhode Island ACLU had filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of the attorneys. The brief, filed by volunteer attorney Amy R. Tabor, had argued that Judge Lisi’s actions “not only violated the due process and First Amendment rights of both the plaintiff and her attorneys, but will, if not reversed, chill and undermine the independent and vigorous advocacy that is an indispensable component of our system of justice.”

Administrators at Central High School in Providence have allowed sophomore Eliazar Velasquez to return to school after the student was suspended last week for posting photographs of the school principal on a personal website. The photographs depicted principal Elaine Almagno smoking a cigarette on school grounds, in direct violation of state law.