News & Commentary

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has today filed separate sex discrimination lawsuits on behalf of two female EMT/firefighters who allege that the Harmony Fire District in Glocester terminated them from their jobs because of concerns they had raised about differential treatment between male and female firefighters.

by Steven Brown, Executive Director

by Steven Brown, Executive Director

by Steven Brown, Executive Director

by Steven Brown, Executive Director

Concluding that a 42-year old U.S. Supreme Court decision gave her “no authority to invalidate the Statute as unconstitutional,” U.S. District Judge Mary Lisi today upheld a 107-year-old Rhode Island law that declares inmates serving life sentences at the ACI to be “civilly dead.” The lawsuit, filed last year in U.S. District Court by ACLU volunteer attorney Sonja Deyoe, was on behalf of Woonsocket resident Shelby Ferreira and inmate Cody-Allen Zab, who had been barred from marrying because of the “civil death” law.

“Like the weather, it appears that everybody in Rhode Island loves to talk about the state’s car tax but nobody ends up actually doing anything about it. The Vehicle Value Commission has the power to do something about it, and bears responsibility for the frustration and, sometimes, anger that taxpayers in the state have about it. For years, the ACLU of Rhode Island has submitted testimony to the Commission to encourage revisions to these regulations in order to address that frustration and bring some semblance of fairness to the valuation process. No revisions have ensued, unfortunately. Despite our lack of optimism that this year will be any different, we offer our views once again.”

The electoral race between Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello and his Republican challenger Steven Frias has, for obvious reasons, drawn an incredible amount of attention.  Both candidates are working very hard to capture every vote they can in their district. But one exceptional aspect of their race has gone unmentioned: they have fewer people to convince to vote for them than in all but one other House district.

ACLU of Rhode Island executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement today in response to the lawsuit filed yesterday by Providence City Councilor Kevin Jackson, challenging the recall petition process that has been initiated against him by some constituents in his district: