IT IS OK TO VIDEORECORD POLICE: Say U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) and 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals

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The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) And The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (in Chicago) Say It's OK For Citizens To Record Police.

The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has declined to review an appeal from the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago of a controversial Illinois state law making it a felony crime to videorecord police officers on the job.

The Seventh Circuit appeals court had ruled that the Illinois law was unconstitutional. In refusing to hear the state of Illinois' appeal, the Supreme Court effectively agreed with the Seventh Circuit appeals court decision.

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.

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 (Massachusetts) 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.

[The ABA Journal, www.abajournal.com/news/article/ "Supreme Court Gives Nod To Citizens Who Record Police, Amidst Reports Of Mulitiple Arrests"/November 26, 2912/ by Martha Neil; Chicago Tribune, www.chicagotribune.com/news/"Supreme Court Rejects Plea To Ban Taping Of Police In Illinois"/ November 26, 2012/ by Jason Meisner]