Neil reports: "The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review a federal appeals court decision finding it unconstitutional to enforce an Illinois state law that makes it a felony to videotape police officers."
A detail of the West Facade of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. (photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Supreme Court Confirms Citizens Right to Film Police
28 November 12
he U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review a federal appeals court decision finding it unconstitutional to enforce an Illinois state law that makes it a felony to videotape police officers working in public if a microphone is turned on.
The law had been challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, and a divided panel of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed earlier this year that it "restricts far more speech than necessary to protect legitimate privacy interests" and, "as applied to the facts alleged here, it likely violates the First Amendment's free speech and free-press guarantees," as Judge Diane Sykes explained in the majority opinion (PDF).
On Monday, the nation's top court declined to hear the state's appeal, leaving the 7th Circuit ruling in force, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Meanwhile, a number of citizens throughout the country say they have been charged with a crime (often obstruction) while recording police on the job. A Massachusetts man is facing a wiretapping case after allegedly posting a video on YouTube that shows him instructing a female passenger how to use an electronic device to record a traffic stop by Shrewsbury police.
Irving Espinosa-Rodrigue, 26, is scheduled for a pretrial hearing in January, reports the Shrewsbury Daily Voice.
Among other accounts of such incidents recently posted on the Photography Is Not a Crime site, Daniel J. Saulmon tells PINAC that he spent several days in jail earlier this month after being arrested in Hawthorne, Calif., while filming police on a public street. He faced an obstruction case, but says the charges against him have been dropped.
A spokesman for the police department wasn't immediately available to respond to a Monday afternoon request for comment from the ABA Journal.
For those who want to know more about the legal issues involved in such cases, the American Bar Association Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division is hosting a Dec. 4 teleconference called Videotaping Police, Wiretapping Laws and the First Amendment. A press release gives the details.
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My take: two often recently when the Austin police shot and killed a young black man, their cameras somehow failed to be turned on -- as required by the police regulations. Not much point "forgetting" to turn them on if the public is allowed to record the event and make the matter public.
Shocking!
They have to let the people win once in awhile to keep up the illusion that we have some form of justice in the US. By reading these posts here I've come to the conclusion that no one here understands anything about jurisdiction. When you go to court, what jurisdiction is the prosecutor claiming are you under? Did anyone on here ever question it? In the Corp US courts you have NO RIGHTS. Only benefits and privileges. The"judge" takes the role of Administrator, they put you as Trustee, unless you rebut their presumption, and then you are screwed. Look at the Bankruptcy of the United States of 1933 and you will find out that there are NO Judges in the US. They are Public Trustees administering the bankruptcy.
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