News & Commentary
Dec 21, 2015
ACLU, Others Call for Accommodations for Breastfeeding Women Taking Bar Exam
The ACLU of Rhode Island and five other organizations are urging the Rhode Island Board of Bar Examiners to provide accommodations to breastfeeding women taking the Bar exam. The Board’s current accommodation policies, the groups say, leave individuals who are breastfeeding “at a serious disadvantage during the test.”
Dec 16, 2015
ACLU Files Suit To Challenge Cranston Ordinance Barring Roadside Solicitations
It may be the season of giving, but in some Rhode Island communities, those seeking the kindness of others often face punishment simply for asking for help. That dichotomy is being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today in a federal lawsuit on behalf of a disabled person summoned to court and threatened with arrest for holding a handwritten sign seeking donations as he stood on the median of a Cranston roadway.
Dec 11, 2015
ACLU Sues Over Cranston Police Policy Of Retaining Lawfully Owned Firearms Without Cause
For the second time in less than four years, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has filed a federal lawsuit over a Cranston Police Department policy of refusing to return firearms seized without a warrant from residents who are neither charged with a crime nor found to pose a danger to themselves or others. Today’s suit, on behalf of resident Edward Caniglia, argues the Cranston Police Department violated his right to due process and his right to keep and bear arms by retaining his firearms without just cause after seizing them without a warrant.
Dec 07, 2015
ACLU Calls Barrington Police Arrests of Youth for Social Media Behavior "Unconscionable"
Just days before suing the Tiverton Police Department for unlawfully arresting an 8-year-old student without cause last week, the ACLU of Rhode Island sharply criticized the Barrington Police Department for “an unconscionable use of law enforcement authority” in bringing criminal charges against children as young as 12 years old for violations of state “social media” laws. These recent incidents, the ACLU said, show an increasing trend towards punishing rather than teaching Rhode Island’s youth.
Dec 03, 2015
Week In Review: Nov. 30-Dec. 4
By Johanna Kaiser, Development & Communications Associate
Dec 03, 2015
ACLU Sues Tiverton On Behalf of Third Grader Searched And Arrested Without Cause
The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today filed a federal lawsuit against Tiverton police and school officials over an incident in which an 8-year-old girl was removed from a school bus, had her belongings searched, was taken alone to the police station without her parents’ knowledge, and then held and questioned at the police station for several hours before being released. The seizure, detention and interrogation of the young child were based solely on unsubstantiated claims from another child that the girl was carrying “chemicals” in her backpack, and occurred even after the police found nothing in the backpack.
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