NEW ACLU Promises to Appeal ‘Orange Sticker’ Case

NEW ACLU Promises to Appeal ‘Orange Sticker’ Case

The Rhode Island ACLU announced today that it will continue to fight the so-called “orange sticker” ordinance in Narragansett, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the law.

The ordinance allows police to affix orange stickers onto houses that have allegedly been the site of “unruly gatherings” and to fine both the tenants and the landlords. The stickers cannot be removed until the end of the academic year, regardless of whether the original tenants are still there or not.

The court however did say that the ordinance could be challenged in its application in particular cases and the ACLU said it plans to mount such challenges.

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The ACLU had argued that the ordinance was unconstitutional because it did not allow for appeals hearings before or after the orange stickers are issued.

“We continue to believe that fundamental principles of due process should require the availability of a hearing process for individuals to challenge an ‘orange sticker’ posting by the police, and we are disappointed that the court ruled otherwise. At the same time, I believe that, in our representation of some of the students who have been charged under this ordinance, we will ultimately limit the Town’s ability to use it as arbitrarily as it had been doing,” said ACLU attorney H. Jefferson Melish.

The lawsuit was filed in 2008 on behalf of the University of Rhode Island Student Senate, four students, and three landlords.