PROVIDENCE — The settlement of a federal lawsuit against Governor Daniel J. McKee’s administration will ensure the State House rotunda remains open for public use and peaceful protest during the governor’s annual “State of the State” address, the ACLU announced Wednesday.
In October 2025, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island sued McKee on behalf of activists who were denied access to the rotunda for a rally during McKee’s State of the State address.
“This is an important reaffirmation of First Amendment rights in a space that serves as a quintessential forum for free speech activity,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island.
McKee spokesperson Laura Hart said, “This settlement reflects the successful approach we put in place for the 2026 State of the State Address in January, ensuring that members of the public could access and use the rotunda while also maintaining a safe and secure environment for event attendees.”
In January 2025, the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project and the now-dissolved Black Lives Matter RI PAC planned to hold a “People’s State of the State” rally an hour before McKee’s speech to raise awareness about economic disparity in Rhode Island.
But when they arrived at the State House, rally-goers were met with stanchions cordoning off the rotunda, and Capitol Police officers and State Police troopers blocking each entrance. A sign said the rotunda was “reserved for the State of the State through the Department of Administration” from 4:30 to 10 p.m.
Harrison Tuttle, then-president of the Black Lives Matter RI PAC, has said police told protesters to use the first-floor Bell Room, and they would not allow speakers to use a microphone. Protesters eventually began to march around the first floor, chanting “Whose house? Our house!”
But Tuttle said the police told the protesters they could not continue to march, and police later escorted him from the second floor, threatening him with arrest. He left the building voluntarily.
The lawsuit argued that these actions were undertaken to stifle the protesters’ exercise of their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly.
Under the settlement agreement filed Wednesday, the parties agreed that “the rotunda of the State House of Rhode Island shall remain open to the public, for purposes including but not limited to peaceful demonstrations ... for not less than one hour before, during, and one hour after the holding of the annual State of the State address.”
The settlement acknowledged the state has the right to “implement safety and security measures ... to ensure safe ingress and egress” to the rotunda and other areas of the State House.
The settlement also includes a payment of $20,405 in legal fees by the state.
In a statement, ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating attorney Lynette Labinger said the state worked with the group to ensure that all members of the public had access to the rotunda to engage in peaceful protest during the 2026 State of the State address in January 2026.
“And now the state has committed to ensuring that such public access will be preserved for all future State of the State addresses,” Labinger said. “Important rights have been vindicated and secured and we applaud both sides for achieving this significant result.”
Tuttle said, “This settlement agreement provides a clear legal framework under which the community and, in particular, individuals experiencing homelessness, may organize and advocate for an end to homelessness during all future annual ‘People’s State of the State’ gatherings held in the Rhode Island State House rotunda.”
Eric Hirsch, acting director of the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project, said, “Rhode Island’s State House rotunda is an important site where those who disagree with the actions and statements of the governor can exercise their First Amendment rights.”
ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating attorney Sonja Deyoe said, “We are pleased that we were able to bring this action and successfully preserve the rights of Rhode Islanders to protest against the actions of their government.”
During a Rhode Island Report podcast, Brown has said people used to be prohibited from using the rotunda for rallies or protests. But in 1973, a group working on poverty issues, including the Sisters of Mercy and Sister Mary Reilly, went to the State House to pray, chant, and sing in protest of then-Governor Philip Noel’s proposed budget cuts to programs that served the poor. Noel’s administration had them removed, claiming the prayer services were too loud and disruptive.
So the ACLU filed a lawsuit. And in a 1974 decision, then-US District Court Judge Raymond J. Pettine ruled for Sister Reilly, stating, “I find that the State House rotunda is a public forum appropriate for the exercise of these First Amendment rights.”
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.