News & Commentary

The ACLU of Rhode Island today called “homeland security” legislation being proposed by Governor Carcieri “extraordinarily dangerous” with “alarming ramifications for political and labor protest, freedom of association, academic freedom and the public’s right to know.” That is the conclusion reached in a 13-page analysis of the bill prepared by the ACLU and sent out today to various political, labor and academic organizations.

The ACLU of R.I. today filed a federal lawsuit challenging the life-sized nativity scene  and menorah in front of Cranston City Hall, as well as the policy that Mayor Stephen Laffey recently implemented to authorize those displays. The suit, filed by ACLU volunteer attorneys Miriam Weizenbaum and Amato DeLuca on behalf of life-long Cranston resident Grace C. Osediacz, argues that both the display and the policy violate the First Amendment.

In a case that raised potentially far-reaching free speech issues for state residents, the ACLU hailed the dismissal today of criminal charges against Little Compton resident William Bullivant at a hearing before R.I. Superior Court Judge Melanie Wilk Thunberg. ACLU volunteer attorneys Charles Levesque and Nicholas Trott Long represented Bullivant at the hearing.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today released a report that both shows that most public libraries in the state oppose the use of censoring software for their computers with Internet access, and that calls upon libraries to take steps to minimize the impact of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision which will now require most of them to nonetheless install so-called “blocking software.”

The ACLU of R.I. has today filed a “friend of the court” brief in the R.I. Supreme Court in support of the free speech rights of West Warwick resident and Republican Town Committee member Alan Palazzo, who was sued for defamation by state Senator Stephen Alves for his newspaper letter-writing activities. The court brief, filed by ACLU volunteer attorneys Joseph Cavanagh, Jr. and Staci Kolb, argues that the lower court correctly dismissed Alves’ lawsuit as a “SLAPP suit” designed to intimidate Palazzo for exercising his First Amendment rights.

A settlement in the Barrington “blue cow” case was announced tonight. Under the settlement approved by the Barrington Town Council meets, the owners of Imagine gift store will be allowed to keep their cow statue, and the Town will review its sign ordinance for possible revisions. The town also agreed to pay ACLU volunteer attorney Carolyn Mannis $5,000 for her work on the case.

The R.I. ACLU announced today the formal settlement of its lawsuit challenging a Town of Bristol ordinance which banned persons between the ages of 18 and 21 from getting tattoos. Last November, the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit challenging the ordinance as a violation of the First Amendment and the privacy rights of young adults. The suit was brought on behalf of Alfred Figueiredo, owner of the Forbidden Art Studio, a Bristol tattoo parlor, and a potential customer, Nicholas Arruda.

In a major ACLU free speech case addressing the First Amendment and the Internet, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments tomorrow, Wednesday morning, March 5th in the Bush Administration’s appeal of a Congressional law that would force libraries to deny adults and minors access to constitutionally protected speech online. One of the plaintiffs in this lawsuit filed by the National ACLU and others is a Rhode Island-based website, AfraidToAsk.com, which discusses sensitive health care issues. The R.I. Library Association has also filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of the ACLU’s position.