A federal appeals court based in Denver has agreed with six of the nation’s other 12 appeals courts that the First Amendment guarantee of free speech gives people the right to film police as they do their work in public, reported The Associated Press.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday in
the case of a YouTube journalist and blogger who claimed that a suburban Denver
officer blocked him from recording a 2019 traffic stop. Citing decisions from
the other courts, the 10th Circuit said the right to record police was clearly
established at the time and reinstated the lawsuit of the blogger, Abade
Irizarry.
A lower court had said the right wasn't clearly
established at the time, preventing the officer from being sued. U.S.
government lawyers intervened
in the appeal to support the public’s right to record police.
The court oversees four western and two midwestern
states — Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah — as well as
parts of Yellowstone National Park that lie in Idaho and Montana.
The ruling comes after Arizona’s Republican governor
last week signed a law that went the opposite direction, making
it illegal in Arizona to knowingly video police officers 8 feet (2.5 meters) or
closer without an officer’s permission.
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