News & Commentary

We have filed a challenged to a Portsmouth town ordinance banning the posting of political signs on residential, private property.

A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction in support of our lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law that gives the DMV Administrator carte blanche authority to deny vanity license plates.

UPDATE: In response to the ACLU's objections, South Kingstown issued an amended executive order that favorably addressed our key concerns.

The ACLU of RI has filed a federal lawsuit charging the Providence Police with discrimination and other rights violations against a Black recruit who was dismissed Academy.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today blasted the City of Providence’s continuing implementation of a weeklong State of Emergency and nighttime curfew for city residents and called for its immediate repeal after learning that city licensing officials advised local restaurants that they remain

The state Department of Labor and Training has agreed to take a series of interim steps to begin rectifying the situation faced by thousands of residents whose unemployment insurance benefit payments were frozen without notice or explanation as part of a fraud investigation. The agreement came at a court hearing late yesterday before U.S. District Judge William Smith on a request by ACLU of Rhode Island attorneys for a temporary restraining order against the state.

Below is the ACLU of Rhode Island's statement in response to the adoption today of curfew orders by the cities of Cranston, Providence and Warwick:

ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating attorney Amato DeLuca filed suit in federal court seeking monetary damages on behalf of a former Narragansett High School student with special education needs who was thrown to the ground, choked and falsely arrested by a school resource officer (SRO) over a rude hand gesture the student gave the SRO. A videotaped record of the incident, which occurred two years ago, shows SRO Kyle Rooney forcefully slamming to the floor and restraining 11th-grader Michael Blanchette for a few minutes before removing him from the school in handcuffs.

ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating attorneys Ellen Saideman and Lynette Labinger today filed a class-action lawsuit challenging the state Department of Labor and Training’s (DLT) actions in summarily freezing weekly unemployment insurance benefit payments to hundreds of Rhode Islanders without any notice or explanation.