News & Commentary

Below is a summary - prepared by ACLU volunteer attorney Lynette Labinger - of today’s court conference before Judge William Smith in the ACLU’s challenge to the State law which caps the number of registered sex offenders (RSOs) that can stay at Harrington Hall at 10% of the shelter’s population. “Counsel for the parties met with Judge Smith today.  After a lengthy discussion, the Court acknowledged that there are significant legal and factual issues which the State has not yet had an opportunity to address.  It was also acknowledged that Crossroads has not been turning anyone away since the law took effect and the parties agreed that while they are developing the legal issues, no one would be turned away and that we could publicly communicate that understanding.  We are next scheduled to meet with the court on January 16, in order to give the State time to prepare its legal arguments, and in the meantime the State understands that Crossroads will not turn anyone away on the basis of the 10% cap and that there will be no repercussions for doing so.” For more information on the lawsuit, click here.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that participants in a Medicaid program run by the state are not being given proper notice before being kicked off the program, leading to a loss of income that the suit says puts low-income residents “at risk of losing their homes and their utilities and deprives them of funds needed for their daily living expenses, including food.” The suit, against the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS), ties the improper notice to the state’s infamous UHIP computer system, the subject of another pending ACLU suit regarding food stamp benefit delays.

As emergency workers and homeless rights’ advocates work feverishly to help move vulnerable homeless Rhode Islanders out of the frigid weather, the ACLU of RI has filed an emergency lawsuit to halt enforcement of a new state law taking effect tomorrow that, as those advocates had earlier warned public officials would happen, will evict some homeless people out into the bitter cold. 

Here’s a look at the top issues – including some big victories and losses – of 2017:

In a ruling that the ACLU of Rhode Island called a blow to an open judicial process, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit today held, by a 2-1 vote, that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) can keep secret thousands of pages of documents it had submitted in a major prescription drug-dealing criminal trial. At the same time, the plaintiff in the case, local journalist Philip Eil, said the suit still had a positive effect, prompting the DEA to release thousands of other documents it would not have otherwise disclosed in the absence of the lawsuit.

“Political,” “hobbies,” “dictionary” and “news” are just four of the ‘filtered’ categories blocked by RI school districts’ Internet filtering systems.  This was one of the findings of a report on the status of Internet filtering in RI public schools released today by the ACLU. A follow-up to a 2013 analysis on the same issue, today’s report found that RI schools’ filtering systems continue to over-censor school Internet networks, hampering academic freedom and access to relevant educational information.  Importantly, the report also found that only two school districts – Cumberland and Exeter-West Greenwich – have adopted formal policies governing their use of Internet filters that complies with a 2016 law designed to promote academic freedom in the classroom.

November 2017 timeliness rates issued by the R.I. Department of Human Services (DHS) show that almost one of every two of the neediest households in the state did not get their food stamp (SNAP) applications processed in time. Attorneys for the ACLU of Rhode Island and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ) called that figure “alarming” in a letter sent yesterday to Deming Sherman, the special master appointed in the groups’ on-going lawsuit challenging DHS’ failure to comply with federal law requiring the provisions of timely food stamp assistance to needy families. The ACLU and NCLEJ stated that, despite successful efforts by DHS to reduce the backlog of SNAP applications, “the most significant conclusion to be derived from” the agency’s latest monthly report is that unlawful delays in processing SNAP applications remain all too common.

In a rebuff to Big Brother on the highways, the RI Department of Transportation (DOT) has adopted new regulations designed to protect the privacy of motorists when the state’s new truck toll gantry system takes effect. The regulations, filed this week with the Secretary of State, came about after an earlier version of the DOT’s tolling regulations contained no privacy protections whatsoever, prompting criticism from the ACLU and other privacy advocates. The ACLU of Rhode Island today commended the DOT for responding to that criticism and taking strong action to protect motorists’ privacy.

The ACLU of RI today announced a settlement in its case on behalf of Elizabeth Gooding who, in May 2017, sued the Ocean Community YMCA for violating her right to breastfeed in public.  Parties in the lawsuit have agreed to a resolution of all issues presented in the case, and filed a stipulation of dismissal today, Friday, December 8, 2017, after signing a confidential settlement agreement and release.