News & Commentary

Below is a statement issued today by RI ACLU executive director Steven Brown on Speaker of the House Gordon Fox's announcement last week that instead of voting on a same-sex marriage bill, the House will instead consider "civil union" legislation in its place:

The RI ACLU has urged the United States Department of Justice to investigate the detention of truants overnight at the state Training School.  In a letter sent to DOJ officials, the ACLU asserts that the documented detention by Family Court judges of at least 28 minors violates a federal law, known as the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, that bars the imprisonment of minors who are charged with committing status offenses, such as truancy.

Below are comments attributable to the individuals participating in the news conference announcing the lawsuit’s filing:

The Rhode Island ACLU today filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a prayer mural addressed to “Our Heavenly Father” that is displayed in the auditorium of a Cranston public high school. The lawsuit, filed by RI ACLU volunteer attorneys Lynette Labinger and Thomas Bender, is on behalf of Jessica Ahlquist, a sophomore at Cranston High School West, who in the past year has spoken out against her school’s prayer display.

Saying that it “sends a very discouraging message to minority youth in the state,” the RI ACLU today criticized a 2-1 decision issued on Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals, rejecting the appeal by a group of Central Falls High School students who were subjected to a controversial search by Coventry Police after a school soccer game in 2006. Over the vigorous dissent of Judge Rogeriee Thompson, the majority ruled that the police could have reasonably believed that the search did not violate the students’ constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The Rhode Island ACLU had filed a “friend of the court” brief supporting the students’ appeal.

Testifying at a public hearing yesterday, the Rhode Island ACLU criticized proposed state regulations that would govern access to public records at the five major agencies encompassed by the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services, calling the proposed rules “minimalist” and dismissive of the public's right to know.  According to the newly proposed regulation, state employees “will make every reasonable effort to honor” requests for public documents but fulfilling such requests “shall not in any way interfere with the ordinary course of business.”

A Providence ordinance signed into law today by Mayor Angel Taveras could have a significant and adverse impact on the advocacy activities of local community and non-profit organizations, the RI ACLU today claimed. The ACLU called the Act, “An Ordinance Relative to Lobbyist Registration,” well-intentioned, but said its far-reaching scope “will deter and chill robust community advocacy.”

The RI ACLU indicated today that it plans to take legal action against the Cranston School District in light of the school committee’s vote on Tuesday to maintain a prayer mural in the auditorium of Cranston High School West.  Upon learning of it last July, the ACLU wrote school officials to point out the blatant unconstitutionality of the display of the prayer, which is addressed to “Our Heavenly Father.”

Various constitutionally problematic provisions in North Kingstown’s political sign ordinance have been rendered unenforceable under a consent judgment that has been filed in federal court, settling a lawsuit that the Rhode Island ACLU filed last year against the Town.