ACLU of RI Statement on Governor McKee’s Actions Limiting Access to State House and State of the State Address:
Governor McKee’s decision to prohibit the public’s access to the State House rotunda and to prevent news cameras from recording the State of the State address raise serious free speech concerns. The State House is the seat of Rhode Island government, the people’s chamber, and the State of the State is a major government event that should not have only been recorded by a state-run media outlet.
Regarding access to the rotunda, we can certainly understand the capitol police taking appropriate steps to ensure that there was adequate access to the second-floor chamber for guests and legislators attending the Governor's speech while the rally was taking place. But to arrange to completely cordon off the rotunda as a restricted area for more than five hours was not only unnecessary – and, as far as we can recall, unprecedented – it was clearly and directly aimed at hindering the exercise of free speech by the protesters.
As far as we know, the decision to bar the media from videorecording the State of the State address was also unprecedented, and the conflicting explanations given for this action only lend credence to the theory that it was designed to prevent the media from covering the speech in the fullest possible manner. The State should never have a monopoly when it comes to recording the public activities of elected officials, but that is essentially what transpired at the event.
Freedom of speech at the State House has gotten off to a very rocky start in 2025. The public should be troubled by these actions, but we can only hope that these were aberrations that will never be repeated.
