News & Commentary

Coming on the heels of false allegations by President Trump of widespread voter fraud, the ACLU of Rhode Island today issued a report indicating that some lawful voters were turned away from the polls in November due to the state’s controversial voter ID law. The report documented a number of other concerns based on observations from a few dozen ACLU volunteer poll monitors during the 2016 general election. The findings generally mirror those contained in a report the ACLU issued after the 2012 Presidential election.

The ACLU of Rhode Island responded today to President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration that, among other things, propose the deportation of immigrants merely for being charged with offenses and seek to sanction so-called “sanctuary cities” with a loss of federal funds.

ACLU of RI executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement today in response to President Trump’s call for an investigation into alleged widespread voter fraud:

In recognition of a continuing backlog causing undue hardship to hundreds of poor residents, the ACLU of Rhode Island has set up a telephone hotline for people to call if they are having trouble with their SNAP (food stamp) application being processed in a timely manner due to the state’s months-long UHIP computer fiasco.

A federal court has ruled that federal immigration officials and the state of Rhode Island violated the Constitution in detaining a U.S. citizen without probable cause while the federal government investigated her immigration status.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island and the R.I. Disability Law Center today announced the favorable settlement of a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of a profoundly deaf person who was not provided an interpreter to allow him to communicate after he was arrested and detained overnight in jail by Woonsocket police for allegedly making an obscene gesture. The groups expressed hope that the settlement, which addresses important issues regarding municipal agency obligations to accommodate people who are deaf or hard of hearing, will serve as a model for police departments across the state.

Below is a statement issued today by the ACLU of Rhode Island on allegations that excessive punishment has been imposed on students who last month protested Warwick school district educational policies:

This should be a happy Access to Public Records Act (APRA) story, but -- spoiler alert -- it's not. Valley Breeze reporter Ethan Shorey filed an APRA complaint with the Attorney General when the City of Pawtucket refused to provide him a list of vacant and abandoned properties it routinely shared with members of the City Council. Three weeks ago, the Attorney General’s office (AG) ruled that the document needed to be handed over. So why is this ruling a loss for open government instead of a victory?

Responding to objections from the ACLU of Rhode Island and two free press organizations, a Providence City Council committee has postponed voting on a proposal that would have made it illegal to leave unsolicited newspapers on a person’s property. Under the ordinance, doing so would have been deemed “littering” with a $50 fine attached to each violation.