The 10-day temporary restraining order granted by a federal judge last week halting the enforcement of the state law prohibiting Level 3 sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet from a school has been extended through at least mid-January.
By agreement of the parties, a hearing to consider the ACLU of RI’s request for a preliminary injunction scheduled for next week has been postponed. Instead, a hearing to consider the ACLU of RI’s request for a permanent injunction has been scheduled for January 19 through January 21, 2016. The temporary restraining order will remain in effect until the judge issues a decision sometime following that hearing.
The ACLU of RI last week filed a class action lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of this law. The ACLU of RI argues the law is unconstitutionally vague, violates due process, retroactively punishes those who have already completed their sentences, and interferes with “liberty and privacy interests while bearing no rational relationship to a legitimate purpose.”
