News & Commentary

State officials have agreed to keep most of the first floor and rotunda at the State House open for use by the public immediately prior to, and during, Governor McKee’s upcoming annual “State of the State” address in January.

Preliminary Injunction Pauses Unlawful Funding Condition for Housing Effort and Restores Lawful Conditions

Common Cause and some individual voters have today intervened in a recently filed lawsuit in order to prevent the U.S. Department of Justice from obtaining sensitive, non-public information contained in the Rhode Island state voter file.

"Drivers’ licenses and social security numbers provided as part of the voter registration process are sensitive pieces of information that deserve to be protected and that the Department of Justice has absolutely no legitimate need for."

A “friend of the court” brief that illustrates through personal stories the critical need for federal systems that work to prevent maternal deaths.

Suit Raises Concerns that Trump-Vance Administration Actions Will Push More Than 170,000 People Into Homelessness as Cold Winter Months Arrive

Closure reached in a federal class-action lawsuit filed in May 2023 against the Providence school district and the R.I. Department of Education, alleging that hundreds of children with disabilities between the ages of three and five were routinely not receiving critical and legally-required special education services.

“It is incredibly important in today’s political environment that the First Amendment rights of the people to assemble, protest, and petition the government are preserved. By filing this action, our clients have decided to stand up on behalf of all Rhode Islanders to preserve those fundamental rights.”

A federal judge entered an order preliminarily blocking the unlawful restrictions imposed on federal grants administered by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD).