News & Commentary

The ACLU of Rhode Island today wrote to officials at the R.I. Public Transportation Authority to raise concerns about an incident that occurred yesterday when the agency initially sought to ban local journalist Steve Ahlquist from video recording a RIPTA Board meeting.

The ACLU's origins date back to the First World War when its predecessor organization,  the National Civil Liberties Bureau, provided legal aid to conscientious objectors during that war. But on this Veterans' Day, as the country honors those who have served in the military over the decades, it's worth noting that the ACLU of RI has also been involved in supporting the legal rights of veterans.

The ACLU of RI  issued the following statement today on yesterday’s arrest of convicted sex offender Richard Gardner, whose residence in Providence has been the subject of protests and political grandstanding since his release from prison last month:

When Richard Gardner, a convicted child sex offender, was released from prison after serving almost 30 years, he quietly moved into the Washington Park neighborhood in Providence. One would not have expected a welcome wagon — but an angry mob should not have been the result either.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a North Smithfield resident, challenging the police department’s refusal to remove from its files a note falsely claiming that he is “dangerous,” “psychologically unstable,” and has numerous weapons at his house. Police officials have acknowledged that they have no basis for the claims contained in the note, which was uncovered while the ACLU was litigating another pending lawsuit on behalf of the resident, Jason Richer.

UPDATE 10/20/18: The ACLU has sent a letter to the Mayor of Providence specifically addressing the issue of the protests taking place in front Richard Gardner's house.

The Providence school bus strike may be over, but the legal actions taken by three civil rights organizations last week to protect the rights of special education students harmed by the strike are not. Instead, the groups are working to ensure that parents of those students receive proper notification of their right to get prompt reimbursement for any transportation costs they incurred in getting their children to school, as well as their children's right to compensatory education for the time they missed classes.

In an important victory for open government, R.I. Superior Court Judge Melissa Long today ruled that the Attorney General must waive fees for any additional documents that are delivered as part of state Representative Patricia Morgan’s request for information on how the AG’s Office spent more than $50M in Google settlement funds. Citing an inherent public interest in the records, Judge Long also rejected the AG’s argument that records requestors should have to prove financial hardship in order to have fees waived.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of state Representative Patricia Morgan’s request for a waiver of more than $4,000 in fees that the Attorney General is demanding in her quest for documents pertaining to the AG’s expenditure of more than $50M in funds from the “Google settlement.” The brief also asks the court to reject the basis offered by the AG for many redactions in the documents that have already been given to Morgan, who has thus far paid more than $3,700 for partial release of the records.