News & Commentary

The Rhode Island ACLU today announced the favorable settlement of its lawsuit against the state and the Town of Richmond on behalf of Rhode Island Representative-Elect Rod Driver, whose political signs were repeatedly removed by town officials during a campaign for office in 2006.

The Rhode Island ACLU is distributing throughout the state a voting rights card designed to inform people of their rights in next month’s Presidential election, in an effort to assist voters during what is supposed to be a record turn-out on November 4th. The ACLU is also staffing a voting rights hotline through Election Day to address voters’ questions or problems. (The card is available in Spanish as well.)

In response to a Rhode Island ACLU lawsuit filed last week, U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres this morning entered a temporary restraining order (TRO) against enforcement of the Town of West Warwick’s political sign ordinance. The ordinance had been challenged by ACLU volunteer attorney Richard A. Sinapi on behalf of town resident and state legislative candidate Thomas K. Jones.

The Rhode Island ACLU today filed a federal lawsuit against the Town of West Warwick, challenging its discriminatory enforcement of an ordinance that significantly limits the posting of political signs in the town. The suit was filed by ACLU volunteer attorney Richard A. Sinapi on behalf of town resident Thomas K. Jones, who is both a state legislative candidate and an outspoken critic of plans to develop a water park in the town. The suit argues not only that the ordinance violates Jones’ freedom of speech, but also that it has been enforced against him by town officials in a discriminatory manner. Although signs that he has displayed have been cited for violating the ordinance, dozens of other political signs supporting other candidates have not been cited at all.

Calling it “essential” to ensure that the legitimate votes of potentially thousands of voters do not get disqualified on November 4th, the Rhode Island ACLU and Common Cause/RI have urged local Boards of Canvassers (BOC) to take steps to notify individually all voters in their communities of their polling location. The request was made in a letter sent by the two groups to all BOCs in the state.

The Rhode Island ACLU today filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of a recently-adopted Board of Elections’ (“Board”) regulation that the ACLU claims may improperly disenfranchise certain voters on Election Day. The suit, filed by ACLU volunteer attorney Angel Taveras in R.I. Superior Court, specifically addresses the situation of qualified but unregistered voters who have the right, under state law, to go to their city or town hall on Election Day and cast a limited ballot for President and Vice-President.

Ruling in an ACLU case, a federal judge has struck down a state law that was used by the Town of Richmond to repeatedly remove former Congressional candidate Rod Driver’s political signs from private property during the 2006 election. In a 25-page opinion, Judge William Smith agreed with the ACLU that the statute violated Driver’s First Amendment rights.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of former Congressional candidate Rod Driver, seeking a court order and damages against the Town of Richmond and police chief Raymond Driscoll for repeatedly removing Driver’s political signs from private property during the last election. The suit, filed by ACLU volunteer attorney Richard A. Sinapi, claims that the defendants’ actions amounted to a willful violation of Driver’s First Amendment rights.

Ruling on a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Rhode Island in 2004, U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres yesterday struck down various aspects of Rhode Island’s campaign finance law that the ACLU argued impermissibly restricted the rights of individuals and entities to campaign for and against ballot questions. The lawsuit, filed by ACLU volunteer attorney Howard Merten, argued that the various laws at issue violated the First Amendment and chilled the free speech rights of the ACLU, its contributors and like-minded advocates. In a lengthy ruling, the judge agreed with most of the ACLU’s contentions.