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aclu, anti-eavesdropping legislation, camera, chicago, Cops, eavesdropping law, eventh Circuit Court of Appeals, federal appeals court, filmed, first amendment, first amendment rights, Harvey Grossman, IL, Illinois, monitoring police activity in public, peace officers, perfectly legal, permanent injunction, picture, picture taking, Police, police officers, supreme court, US Supreme Court
Smile for the camera, coppers — the US Supreme Court has decided to let stand a lesser ruling that allows citizens in the state of Illinois to record police officers performing their official duties.
Up until just last year, an anti-eavesdropping legislation on the books across Illinois meant any person within the state could be imprisoned for as much as 15 years for recording a police officer without expressed consent. In August 2011, a federal appeals court struck down the law, but an Illinois prosecutor has asked the Supreme Court — unsuccessfully — to challenge that ruling.
On Monday, the top justices in the US said that they would not hear the case and will instead rely on last year’s ruling where a federal appeals court in Chicago agreed that the eavesdropping law, as written, “likely violates” the First Amendment.
