A federal judge blocked enforcement of a new Arizona law restricting how the public and journalists can film police.
The law was enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature over unified opposition from Democrats and signed by GOP Gov. Doug Ducey on July 6.
Bystander cellphone videos are largely credited with revealing police misconduct — such as with the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis officers — and reshaping the conversation around police transparency. But Republican Arizona lawmakers say the legislation was needed to limit people with cameras who deliberately impede officers.
“I was assuming that the attorney general would do his job as the state’s attorney and defend a law passed by the state,” Kavanagh said. “We are trying to get together with the speaker and the president and see if the Legislature will defend it, but there’s also the possibility of some outside group possibly stepping up.”
Kavanagh argued that allowing people to record police up close while they are doing enforcement, like making arrests or dealing with a disturbed person, could put officers in danger, and noted that he made several changes to address the concerns of the ACLU. Those include changing the restriction from 16 feet to 8 feet.
“There wasn’t anything in the law that said the person recording has to be interfering with law enforcement or harassing officers or otherwise doing something that would create a danger or a distraction,” Kelley said. “All it prohibited was simply standing there, making a video recording. And since that’s activity that’s protected by the First Amendment, this law was on its face unconstitutional.”
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