DOE v. McKee: ACLU Files Suit to Allow Encampment to Continue — Battle Over Homeless Policy Elevates

DOE v. McKee: ACLU Files Suit to Allow Encampment to Continue — Battle Over Homeless Policy Elevates

On Tuesday, attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island and the R.I. Center for Justice filed a complaint on behalf of two dozen homeless individuals to allow them to continue camping at the State House to protest the lack of adequate housing for individuals in Rhode Island.

This is just the latest in the legal battle over the right to live on the grounds of the State House.

The complaint supplements one filed last week by attorney Rick Corley which led to the issuance of an order temporarily barring any action against the protesters pending a court hearing tomorrow. The supplemental complaint, filed in R.I. Superior Court by ACLU of RI cooperating attorney Lynette Labinger, the Center for Justice’s Jennifer Wood, and Corley, argues that attempts to remove the campers would violate their constitutional rights as well as the state’s Homeless Bill of Rights (HBOR).

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The complaint notes that any number of the plaintiffs selected the State House grounds to locate their tent because “they wish to convey a message that they are in need of and unable to access adequate shelter and they believe that the message is best conveyed by their continuing physical presence at the seat of Rhode Island government.” The suit argues that the “grounds of the State House are a traditional public forum where the Government’s ability to limit protected speech and expression is at its most constrained.”

While the notice to vacate given to the camping protesters stated that “camping/sleeping overnight at the State House grounds is prohibited,” the lawsuit points out that the State has not adopted any regulations to that effect in accordance with the R.I. Administrative Procedures Act, a law that requires state agency rules and policies affecting the public to be adopted in a process that allows for public input.

Although the notice given the campers claimed that “a bed in an emergency shelter” would be provided to every person there, the suit claims that the State has not secured adequate housing for, or even been able to contact, all of them, even as officials seek to have the court eliminate the restraining order and allow them to remove or arrest the plaintiffs. In the meantime, many of the plaintiffs have been trying to work with the state to obtain adequate and appropriate shelter for their needs.

The suit argues that the State’s actions violate the protesters’ First Amendment rights to speech and petition the government, their Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures, and the HBOR, which generally bars discrimination against individuals on the basis of their housing status. The suit seeks a continued injunction to bar the state from “seizing or removing” the plaintiffs without their permission.

A hearing on the injunction request is scheduled to be heard Wednesday at 10 AM before R.I. Superior Court Judge David Cruise.

 

For a copy of the complaint filed CLICK HERE.