Protecting rights in RI since 1959.

Court Blocks Latest Unlawful Homelessness Funding Announcement

“This false arrest encapsulates the extremely serious privacy concerns that the ACLU and many others have been raising about Flock Safety and automated license plate reader cameras more broadly. This technology can do more than ‘just record license plates,’ and the secrecy surrounding its more invasive uses deserves special condemnation.”

“Citizens should be free to comment on their interactions with government, including what happens in a lawsuit. If not, the government can make the proceedings secret and protected from public scrutiny."

Almost by definition, a ruling by the highest court in the United States on a civil liberties issue is likely to have a significant impact on the rights of Rhode Islanders. That was certainly true of some of the blockbuster decisions that came down this year from the court. But it is also worth highlighting cases, especially ones detrimental to civil rights, that — seemingly magically — don’t affect the Ocean State. Those cases demonstrate something extremely important: the critical role that the state and our Affiliate can play, and have played, in responding to, and insulating ourselves from, some of the court’s regressive decisions. Below are six cases from this most recent term that call attention to both of those scenarios.