OpEd: Supreme Court Weakens First Amendment Right to Film Law Enforcement in Public Without Fear of Retaliation

This OpEd speaks of the threat this action by the U.S. Supreme Court may hold for citizen across America, in large cities and in small towns, including journalists. It recalls the value of the silent testimony that a 17-year-old girl’s cell phone video had in the 2021 trial to seek justice for George Floyd’s murder. Free Speech makes freedom possible.—Patric Hedlund, Editor

By John Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute

The U.S. Supreme Court has dealt a blow to police accountability and the First Amendment right of eyewitnesses to film and photograph police activity in public without fear of retaliation.

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Appeal

In refusing to hear an appeal in Crocker v. Beatty, the Supreme Court has let stand a lower court ruling which granted qualified immunity to a police officer who confiscated a bystander’s cell phone, arrested him for resisting an officer, then allegedly punished him for trying to film police activity by locking him in a police car with the air conditioning turned off on a hot Florida afternoon.

The Rutherford Institute had filed an amicus brief in support of Crocker, rebutting the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling that eyewitnesses to a highway accident don’t have a clearly established First Amendment right to film police activity.

The First Amendment should protect the right of citizens to make audio or video recordings of police carrying out their duties in public.

The ability to record police interactions in public provides for greater accountability when it comes to police interactions with the citizenry and should be preserved as a necessary right of the people.

The Incident in Question

In May 2012, businessman James Crocker witnessed an accident while driving on I-95 in Florida. Crocker pulled off the road and ran to help with an individual who was trapped inside a car which had lost control and flipped over in the median.

Once police and emergency personnel arrived, Crocker and other bystanders moved away from the accident. From a distance, Crocker used his cell phone to…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

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This is part of the February 4, 2022 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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