When the Minneapolis Police Department’s initial statement grossly misrepresented the killing of George Floyd, it was videos filmed by bystanders that showed what had happened.
The lesson is clear: Recording encounters with law enforcement can be necessary for holding officers accountable when they overstep their bounds.
But if you want to record law enforcement activity in Arizona, make sure you have a measuring tape on you.
A new law signed by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey makes it a misdemeanor to record within 8 feet of police officers. If you’re on private property, you must be in an “adjacent room or area” while recording the encounter.
At least exceptions are provided if you are the subject of the encounter or the occupant of a vehicle that has been pulled over. Under the law’s provisions, “law enforcement activity” can include the questioning of suspicious people, handling an “emotionally disturbed or disorderly person,” or conducting an arrest.
This law threatens the freedoms of speech, press, and assembly. Will officers be measuring the distance between themselves and bystanders? If an officer approaches a bystander using his phone to record, does it become a violation when the officer closes the distance to less than 8 feet?
This law, just one page long, raises so many questions. The law places the burden of responsibility on recording bystanders by saying it is illegal to record if the person knows or “reasonably should know that law enforcement activity is occurring.”
Regardless of what the Arizona Constitution says about freedom of speech, the U.S. Constitution applies here. “Freedom of speech and of the press … are among the fundamental personal rights and ‘liberties’ protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment from impairment by the States,” Justice Edward Sanford wrote for the majority in Gitlow v. New York.
State Rep. John Kavanagh, a Republican, wrote an op-ed defending his proposal.
“I recognize the constitutional right of people to videotape police officers performing their duties,” he said. “However, the United States Supreme Court has also ruled that this right is subject to reasonable time, place and manner limitations.”
In Hill v. Colorado, the Supreme Court held that states can reasonably regulate “the places where some speech may occur” and allowed Colorado to institute a distance requirement between pro-life protesters and those entering or leaving abortion clinics. Yet the questions discussed in Hill are vastly different from the core of Kavanagh’s legislation. Hill deals with private citizens dealing with “unwanted advice” from other private citizens as they seek to enter or leave a facility. This is about public servants.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Arizona, held in Askins v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security that there is a constitutional right to record public officials.
“The First Amendment protects the right to photograph and record matters of public interest,” the court ruled. “This includes the right to record law enforcement officers engaged in the exercise of their official duties in public places.”
Askins noted that “time, place, or manner restrictions” can be constitutional — but not if they “delegate overly broad licensing discretion to a government official.”
Unless bystanders and law enforcement officers decide to measure the distance between themselves, it is clear a law enforcement officer appears to have the final say in determining whether a person is actively violating this law. If the officer is wrong, he won’t be held accountable in civil court because of qualified immunity.
Free speech is a delicate right that government has a long history of trying to modify, regulate, and abuse. Ducey’s decision to sign this law is just the latest example of the government trying, and hopefully failing, to restrict constitutional rights.
James Sweet is a summer 2022 Washington Examiner fellow.
"freedom" - Google News
July 13, 2022 at 01:13AM
https://ift.tt/WgwkbiP
New Arizona law flagrantly attacks freedom of speech - Washington Examiner
"freedom" - Google News
https://ift.tt/OE98d0B
https://ift.tt/LHvPpDa
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "New Arizona law flagrantly attacks freedom of speech - Washington Examiner"
Post a Comment