News & Commentary

A federal court ruled unconstitutional a state law that makes it a crime for certain sex offenders to reside within 1,000 feet of a school, finding that the statute would require individuals subject to it to guess whether they were in compliance with it.

ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating attorneys have today filed a petition in R.I. Superior Court to challenge the state’s “absurd” position that an important criminal justice reform enacted by the General Assembly in 2021 doesn’t apply to the person the law was overtly aimed to help.

The ACLU of RI today filed a complaint against the Bristol-Warren School District on behalf of a six-year-old child who, the complaint alleges, for months has not been given the free and appropriate education (FAPE) to which he is clearly entitled due to his serious special education needs.

Attorneys for the ACLU of RI have filed an amended complaint in their pending class-action lawsuit against RIPTA and UnitedHealthcare New England over an August 2021 data breach that compromised the personal and health care information of more than 20,000 current and former state employees.

The ACLU of RI and RI Legal Services have filed a formal complaint with the US Department of Education against the Providence School District for failing to provide parents of special education students documents used to determine eligibility for services and the nature of these services.

In spite of a U.S. Supreme Court session which indicated that the erosion of fundamental civil liberties by that body is no longer a hypothetical fear, 2022 was also marked by a number of critical home state victories. Here is a small sampling of highlights from our work this year.

The ACLU of RI and the Center for Justice issued the following statement in response to this afternoon's ruling on Doe v. McKee, a lawsuit filed on behalf of two dozen homeless individuals to allow them to continue camping at the State House to protest the lack of adequate housing in Rhode Island.

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island and the R.I. Center for Justice have today filed a complaint on behalf of two dozen homeless individuals to allow them to continue camping at the State House to protest the lack of adequate housing for individuals in Rhode Island.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has called on Governor Daniel McKee to rescind a notice requiring all persons currently camping in front of the State House to vacate their property by 9 AM tomorrow or else face arrest.