Rhode Island ACLU Update: The DOJ “An Affront to the Rule of Law” / Reject Camera Sharing with Providence’s Real Time Crime Center
From the Rhode Island Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union – February 3, 2026
ACLU Brief in Major Voting Rights Case Calls Department of Justice Arguments “An Affront to The Rule of Law”
In a brief filed today in federal court, the American Civil Liberties Union blasted the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) position that it is entitled to Rhode Island’s entire non-public voter file – including not only names and addresses, but full dates of birth and driver’s license numbers and/or social security number information – by calling the DOJ’s arguments “an affront to the rule of law, the role of the judiciary, and the intelligence and rights of the American public.”
In December, the ACLU and ACLU of Rhode Island, representing Common Cause and individual voters, intervened in this DOJ-filed lawsuit that is demanding that Secretary of State Gregg Amore turn over this sensitive, non-public information contained in the Rhode Island state voter file.
The government has argued that the purpose of the demand for these records is to “ascertain Rhode Island’s compliance with the [voter] list maintenance requirements” of federal voting laws, but the ACLU brief states that the DOJ has never explained exactly how access to this information – and particularly access to the personal, non-public portions of the voter data – would assist the agency in doing that. Instead, the ACLU brief argues:
Stunningly, the United States never once denies what extensive public reporting and judicially noticeable documents make plain: that its true purpose in seeking state voter files is to build an unprecedented national voter file through novel, error-prone, DOGE-inspired forms of data-matching and then to use this tool to identify ostensibly ineligible voters and challenge their right to vote.
The ACLU brief further challenges as unlawful the government’s attempt to seek the unredacted voter file “with no provision for redactions or modifications to safeguard privacy rights and comply with relevant” federal privacy laws. The brief concludes by asking the court to dismiss the DOJ’s complaint.
The request from the federal government is part of a reported effort to assemble a national voter database, which Congress has never authorized, and which could be used to try to disenfranchise legitimate voters. The ACLU has previously noted that the federal government’s use of private voter data would also make this sensitive information more vulnerable to hackers and scammers. The court filing comes a day after President Trump was quoted as calling on Republicans to “take over” and “nationalize” voting.
The individuals participating in the case include a naturalized citizen and a person who recently moved from out of state and re-registered to vote in Rhode Island. Voters like these are particularly threatened by the federal government’s efforts, as faulty data matching could easily be used to wrongfully disenfranchise them.
Reply-in-Support-of-Motion-to-Dismiss-–-DOJ-v.-AmoreSeventeen states and the District of Columbia have requested permission to file a “friend of the court” brief in support of the state and the ACLU’s position.
From the Rhode Island Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union – February 5, 2026
ACLU OF RI Urges Brown University to Reject Camera Sharing with Providence’s Real Time Crime Center
Citing serious privacy concerns, the ACLU of Rhode Island and the ACLU’s Brown University campus chapter are calling on university President Christina Paxson to decline the Providence Police Department’s request that the institution share campus camera feeds with Providence’s Real Time Crime Center (RTCC). The civil liberties organization sent similar letters to other colleges and universities with campuses in Providence that have also been approached by the police department to share camera feed access after the shooting at Brown in December.
While supporting the goal of promoting safety initiatives on campus, the civil liberties organization’s letter to President Paxson flagged serious privacy concerns over collaboration with the RTCC, arguing that sharing camera access “poses a substantial risk to your students, staff, faculty, and visitors in the absence of sufficient protections for privacy and accountability.” The letter explains two examples of how the data could be misused, including targeting free speech on campus and immigration actions:
For example, particularly in light of the current federal administration’s continued attacks on the right to protest at colleges and universities, we can easily envision campus footage provided to the RTCC used for the surveillance of free speech activities on campus and the targeting of “troublemakers.”
To give another example, our Affiliate was forced to file a lawsuit last year after the Trump Administration arbitrarily began revoking the F-1 visas of students in local colleges and institutions, including Brown. Easy access to surveillance footage of students on campus can only increase the possibility of targeted actions like that by the federal government in the future.
The RTCC was announced in 2025 by the Providence Police Department. It connects city-owned camera feeds and private camera feeds, if the owner has opted in to sharing, into a centralized surveillance system. There are currently no state laws that govern the use of the RTCC. The Providence City Council passed amendments to the city’s Community-Police Relationship Act in October 2025, which partially limits the way data collected through the RTCC can be used to assist with federal immigration enforcement, but otherwise this vast surveillance system is largely unregulated.
