American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Rhode Island

Provided legal representation and participated in over 30 lawsuits and administrative actions on a wide range of issues, including a successful suit over a citys refusal to allow a resident to speak at a public meeting; successful representation of a student with disabilities who was unlawfully assaulted and arrested by a school resource officer; representation of a town resident who was sued by a local fire district for testifying against the district at an administrative hearing; and a court decision refusing to dismiss a lawsuit we filed seeking remedies for thousands of current and former state employees whose persoanl health care information was breached.

Organized and participated in a variety of events during the year to make people aware of their rights and stimulate public discussion on civil liberties issues, including: an annual meeting discussion with attorneys and clients involved in major ACLU cases; a review of enacted state laws in 2023 affecting civil liberties; a review of important civil liberties cases in the 2022-2023 U.S. Supreme Court term; and an event celebrating Banned Books Week.

Prepared, publicized and disseminated an array of know your rights materials in both English and Spanish on a variety of civil liberties issues, including students rights and rights of people in encouters with the police; and issued public reports examining the public comment policies of city and town councils and school committee, and the availablity of remote access by the public to governmental meetings post-covid.