News & Commentary

The ACLU of Rhode Island today filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of a 110-year-old statute that declares inmates serving life sentences at the ACI to be “dead in all respects” with respect to “all civil rights.” The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by ACLU cooperating attorneys Sonja Deyoe and Lynette Labinger, is on behalf of two ACI inmates who are barred from pursuing legal actions against the Department of Corrections in court because of the “civil death” law. According to the lawsuit, Rhode Island may be the only state in the country still enforcing a law like this, whose origins date back to ancient English common law.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today announced the favorable settlement of a lawsuit it filed two years ago against a Smithfield ordinance that the ACLU argued was an attempt to undermine the state’s medical marijuana law by imposing significant burdens on patients’ access to treatment. Under the settlement agreement, the Town has agreed to repeal the ordinance and pay $30,000 in attorneys’ fees.

As one of the most powerful pieces of legislation passed each session, the budget has the opportunity to make wide, sweeping changes to vast sections of Rhode Island law. Because of the extensive nature of the budget, the ACLU has to be particularly vigilant in monitoring the proposed Articles.

In a case raising important First Amendment issues for the Internet age, the ACLU of Rhode Island has taken on the defense of a Massachusetts blogger who was ordered by a Rhode Island Superior Court judge to “immediately remove” from his website “any and all posts, blogs, and comments” regarding a person who sued him for libel, without even hearing from the internet publisher.  Considering the court order a classic example of censorship, ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating attorney Lynette Labinger has removed the case to federal court for adjudication.

Last week we focused on bills which have passed either the House or Senate and could pose serious harm to civil liberties in Rhode Island. Positively, however, numerous bills making advances for the protection of LGBTQ rights and women’s rights have also passed out of each chamber.

A recently-filed ACLU class-action lawsuit challenging the government’s practice of denying due process to detained immigrants could directly affect the continued jailing of some of the immigrant detainees now being held at the Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls.

The ACLU has asked the R.I. Supreme Court to overturn a Superior Court ruling that upheld the constitutionality of a problematic Providence housing ordinance that prohibits more than three “college students” from living together in certain housing in some areas of the city.  In her February 2018 decision, Superior Court Judge Maureen Keough acknowledged “strong reservations concerning the effectiveness” of the ordinance and agreed it “seems nonsensical,” but ultimately ruled against the students and found the ordinance constitutional. However, in a brief filed with the Supreme Court this week, ACLU attorneys argue that the ordinance unconstitutionally “relegates anyone enrolled in college or graduate school to the status of second-class citizen within the City of Providence.”

As the legislative session approaches its final month, the number of bills being voted out of committee, onto the floor, and recommended to the opposite chamber has grown exponentially. Unfortunately, some of these bills contain provisions which violate civil liberties principles.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today announced a major development in its R.I. Supreme Court appeal on behalf of former House Minority Leader Patricia Morgan, whose access to documents pertaining to former Attorney General (AG) Peter Kilmartin’s expenditure of more than $50M in funds from the “Google settlement” was stymied by thousands of questionable redactions that he made in response to her Access to Public Records Act request.