News & Commentary

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island (ACLU) and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice  (NCLEJ) today announced the dismissal of its almost three-year-old lawsuit that challenged the widespread failure of the state Department of Human Services (DHS) to timely provide SNAP food stamp benefits to needy families due to its troubled UHIP computer system.

The South Kingstown School Committee has approved an ACLU of RI-drafted resolution clarifying that SK schools will not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) absent a valid judicial warrant that has been verified by the district superintendent and its legal counsel.  A similar policy was approved by the Central Falls School District in June 2017. Although an ICE policy purports to restrict enforcement actions in “sensitive locations” such as schools, churches and hospitals, that policy has not been uniformly followed, and immigration enforcement actions across the nation have been unpredictable. The motion to approve the resolution was unanimous. “We applaud the SK School Committee for passing this important resolution to protect immigrant students and families.  We hope other school committees in RI will follow their lead,” said Steven Brown, ACLU of RI executive director.

In an important decision enforcing a law aimed at reducing harm caused by out-of-school suspensions, an appeals committee of the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education (CESE) has upheld an R.I. Department of Education (RIDE) hearing officer’s decision that the Barrington School District improperly issued an out-of-school suspension to a middle school student. The ACLU of  RI represented the student in the appeal after the district contested the RIDE hearing officer’s decision that there was no evidence that the student’s conversation with others – prompted by a recent school shooting – was “disruptive,” a requirement for out-of-school suspension.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today has added new constitutional claims to a lawsuit it filed in May against the State, challenging the state Division of Taxation’s position that a special sales tax exemption for Rhode Island authors applies only to works of fiction, and not to non-fiction, because non-fiction is not “creative and original.” The lawsuit, filed by ACLU of RI cooperating attorney Lynette Labinger, continues to argue that making such a distinction on the content of the work violates the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, but adds new claims in light of troubling developments since the suit’s original filing.

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.

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 of Rhode Island today settled a federal lawsuit against the City of Cranston, successfully challenging its selective enforcement of ordinances barring the placement of commercial advertisements on city property. The suit was filed two filed years ago by ACLU volunteer attorney Richard A. Sinapi on behalf of Stephen Hunter, a lawyer who was threatened with fines if he did not take down signs advertising his business that he had posted at various intersections throughout the city – even though there were dozens of other advertising signs posted at the same locations and many hundreds more citywide, which were left untouched and not cited.

UPDATE (4/5/19): The newly constituted Wyatt Detention Facility Board voted to terminate its contract with ICE and have all ICE detainees moved out within 7 days. We are awaiting more information.

The ACLU of RI today announced the settlement of a federal lawsuit against the City of Woonsocket for unlawfully withholding critically needed grant funds from Sojourner House, a social service agency that helps victims of domestic violence. Filed by ACLU of RI volunteer attorneys Matthew Oliverio and Stephen Prignano last August, the lawsuit alleged that the City withheld the funds without cause or due process, and retaliated against the agency after it petitioned other government agencies for help in resolving the dispute over the funds.