Search

The ACLU of R.I. today filed a federal lawsuit challenging the life-sized nativity scene  and menorah in front of Cranston City Hall, as well as the policy that Mayor Stephen Laffey recently implemented to authorize those displays. The suit, filed by ACLU volunteer attorneys Miriam Weizenbaum and Amato DeLuca on behalf of life-long Cranston resident Grace C. Osediacz, argues that both the display and the policy violate the First Amendment.

In a brief filed this week, the ACLU of Rhode Island has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Court of Appeals to allow its “racial profiling” lawsuit to proceed against the Town of Westerly on behalf of a 50-year old African-American man, Ashaway resident Bernard Flowers, who was stopped in his car and detained at gunpoint by town police. The appeal, filed by ACLU volunteer attorney Thomas G. Briody, claims that the district court erred when it ruled that the police had sufficient grounds to warrant a “felony car stop” of Mr. Flowers.

A settlement in the Barrington “blue cow” case was announced tonight. Under the settlement approved by the Barrington Town Council meets, the owners of Imagine gift store will be allowed to keep their cow statue, and the Town will review its sign ordinance for possible revisions. The town also agreed to pay ACLU volunteer attorney Carolyn Mannis $5,000 for her work on the case.