Yves here. It is a sad comment on what passes for rights in America that a law like this has to be proposed. Well-settled precedent is that you have no expectation of privacy in a public place, and that includes spots viewable from the street like your front yard. That additionally means that photographing or videoing someone in these locations is similarly protected under the First Amendment.
However, I do like the carve-out of making Federal employees individually liable. Even though the government would presumably cover their defense, they would be subject to discovery as well as the stress of being involved in litigation. So the chilling effect against bad conduct would be salutary.
Mind you, one has to think this has no chance of passing before the midterms. But assuming midterms, that equation could change considerably.
By Brett Wilkins, staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams
A pair of congressional Democrats on Monday introduced legislation that would protect the constitutional right to legally record federal agents and open the door to civil compensation for people whose rights have been violated.
Congressman Maxwell Frost of Florida and Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut introduced the Right to Record Act, which according to Frost’s office, “establishes the right to sue individual law enforcement agents if they violate First Amendment rights, including the right to record, observe, or peacefully protest.”
“The First Amendment defends the right to assemble, protest, and record government officials in public,” Frost said in a statement.
“That right has never been more important. In cases like the murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, officials and their allies tried to paint the victims as threats despite evidence showing otherwise,” the congressman said, referring to two people shot and killed during the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Operation Metro Surge anti-immigrant blitz in Minneapolis.
“Without firsthand recordings, those false narratives might have become the official story, which is why the Right to Record Act is so important,” Frost added. “It would protect the public’s ability to expose the truth without fear, giving individuals a legal path forward if an officer does violate their constitutional rights.”
In the same statement, Blumenthal said that “over the last year, I’ve investigated dozens of cases of Americans brutalized by agents of their own government, and across the board, video footage corroborated their testimony—showing the world what they experienced and making sure that justice was served.”
“Without recordings, we wouldn’t know the truth of what happened to Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, Marimar Martinez, George Retes, and so, so many others,” the senator continued.
Martinez, a US citizen, was shot five times by a US Customs and Border Protection agent last October in Chicago while going to donate clothing to her church. Officer body camera footage showed that DHS officials—who labeled Martinez a “domestic terrorist”—lied about events leading up to the shooting.
Retes, who is also a US citizen, is an Iraq War veteran who was violently arrested last July during an immigration raid on his job site and subsequently jailed for three days.
“The right to bear witness has never been more important,” Blumenthal said in his statement Monday. “I’m proud to work with Congressman Frost on bicameral legislation that will strengthen the right to record, observe, and peacefully protest—creating real enforcement tools for the protections of the First Amendment that lay the foundation for our democracy.”
Recording federal law enforcement agents in public is protected First Amendment activity, as long as the recorder is not interfering with the officers’ duties. Federal courts have repeatedly upheld this right.
“The right to observe and record law enforcement is fundamental to our democracy,” Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel with the ACLU—which has endorsed the Right to Record Act—asserted Monday.
“We can’t hold our government accountable if we can’t see for ourselves what they’re doing in our communities,” she argued. “Observing and filming allows people to create an independent record, share information with their communities, and demand better from our government.”
“Protesting for what we believe in is a core American value, and observing and filming government activity can drive the protest movements that spark change,” Leventoff added. “All of these rights are squarely protected by the First Amendment, and we’re hopeful that Congress will codify them into law by enacting the Right to Record Act.”
