News & Commentary

Calling it a “a dubious setting of priorities, a potential blueprint for the violation of peaceful protesters’ free speech rights, and a questionable use of taxpayer money,” the R.I. ACLU today revealed that the City of Providence obtained over $100,000 of FY2004 federal homeland security money – almost 25% of the funds earmarked to the police department – for police officers to attend a training on how to handle protests and broadly-defined “civil actions” that arise out of a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) incident. Among other things, the course “provides law enforcement officers with the skills and tactics necessary to prepare for and successfully mitigate protesters and their devices.” A catalog for the course further explains: “Civil actions in threat incidents are known by a variety of names: riots, civil disturbances, or protests. From a small, peaceful assembly to a large out-of-control violent confrontation, public safety officials must be prepared to handle the incident.”

The ACLU of Rhode Island today said that the Warwick Board of Public Safety “set a dangerous and unconstitutional precedent” in banning a local nightclub from hosting hip-hop or rap music. The ban was imposed on Tuesday on “Barry’s” nightclub, in response to an incident earlier this month where a man was shot at the club. Although the club owner had voluntarily agreed to no longer offer this type of entertainment, the Board amended the club’s liquor license to explicitly ban these particular musical events.

The ACLU of Rhode Island has today filed suit in federal court, challenging the constitutionality of various aspects of Rhode Island’s campaign finance law and the Board of Elections’ interpretations of the law that impermissibly restrict the rights of individuals and entities to campaign for and against ballot questions. The lawsuit, filed by ACLU volunteer attorney Howard Merten, argues that the various laws and policies at issue violate the First Amendment and serve to chill the free speech rights of the ACLU, its contributors and like-minded advocates.

In a mixed decision, U.S. District Judge William Smith today ruled that the City of Cranston violated the First Amendment last year when Mayor Stephen Laffey adopted a policy giving his office unbridled authority to approve the erection of “appropriate” displays for the holiday season in front of City Hall. Agreeing with ACLU arguments, the judge ruled that the policy did not “sufficiently protect the free speech rights of Cranston’s citizens.”

In response to the recently-publicized “discrimination” complaint filed against Rhode Island College Professor Lisa Church, the ACLU has called on RIC President John Nazarian to immediately address the “broader issues and concerns that her case has raised” by revising the college’s policies that prohibit “hate speech.” Professor Church had an administrative hearing last week on charges that she violated a college provision requiring personnel to “create, promote and ensure a positive climate where individuals may learn, teach and work free from discrimination.” The charge arose when she refused to intervene in a private dispute in which racist comments were allegedly made by one parent of a child to another at the college’s Cooperative Preschool, which Church helps to coordinate.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Lincoln resident Karen Elias Clavet, who was not hired for an art teaching position in the Lincoln public schools this summer despite the recommendation of an independent hiring committee and the school district superintendent. The lawsuit, filed by ACLU volunteer attorney Jennifer Azevedo, claims that the school committee took no action on her appointment because she has been a sometimes-vocal critic of some school district practices. The suit seeks a court order appointing her to the teaching position and barring the school committee from otherwise retaliating against her for her political activities.

The Rhode Island ACLU today filed a “friend of the court” brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston, challenging 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 brief, filed by ACLU volunteer attorney Amy R. Tabor, argues 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.” Last year, the ACLU sought to file a similar brief on these issues before Judge Lisi when she was considering whether to sanction the attorneys, but Judge Lisi denied the ACLU’s request to file the brief.

The ACLU of Rhode Island has today filed a federal lawsuit against Coventry Fire District Chief Stanley Mruk and District Auditor Conrad Burns, for violating the free speech rights of four Coventry firefighters at the District’s December 2003 annual financial meeting. This is the third time in two years that the ACLU has sued Mruk. The latest suit, filed by ACLU volunteer attorney Gary Berkowitz, is on behalf of Robert Carlow, James Perry, William Perry, and David Gorman.

The ACLU of RI has called on URI President Robert Carothers to intervene and correct “a very disturbing issue of academic censorship” at the University. It involves Women’s Studies Professor Donna Hughes, an expert on the international trafficking of women and children.