Under the Right to Record Act, Individuals Can Sue Federal Agents for First Amendment Violations
Yves here. It is sad to see the comments passed by the rights in America that a law like this should be proposed. A well-designed presentation is that you don’t expect privacy in a public space, and that includes places that are visible from the street like your front yard. That also means that photographing or videotaping a person in these areas is equally protected under the First Amendment.
However, I like the record of holding Federal employees accountable. Even if the government were to secure their immunity, they would be facing discovery and pressure to get involved in the courts. So the cumulative effect of fighting bad behavior can be beneficial.
Note, one must assume that this has no chance of passing before the intermediate goals. But considering the midterms, that equation could change dramatically.
By Brett Wilkins, staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published on Common Dreams
A number of Democrats in Congress on Monday introduced legislation that would protect the constitutional right to legally record federal agents and open the door to 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, “ends up the right to sue individual law enforcement officers if they violate First Amendment rights, including the right to record, observe, or peacefully protest.”
“The First Amendment protects the right to assemble, protest, and record public officials,” 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 have tried to paint the victims as threats despite evidence to the contrary,” the congressman said, referring to two people who were shot and killed during the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Operation Metro Surge anti-immigrant blitz in Minneapolis.
“Without being recorded in person, that false narrative is likely to become a legal matter, which is why the Right to Record Act is so important,” added Frost. “It would protect the public’s ability to disclose the truth without fear, giving people a legal way forward if an official violates their constitutional rights.”
In the same statement, Blumenthal said that “over the past year, I have investigated countless cases of Americans being harassed by agents of their own government, and across the board, video footage corroborated their testimony—showing the world what they went through and making sure that justice was served.”
“Without the recording, we would not know the truth of what happened to Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, Marimar Martinez, George Retes, and many others,” the Senator continued.
Martinez, an American citizen, was shot five times by a US Customs and Border Protection agent last October in Chicago when he went to donate clothes to his church. The sheriff’s body camera footage showed that DHS officials—who called Martinez a “domestic terrorist”—lied about the events leading up to the shooting.
Retes, who is also an American citizen, is an Iraq War veteran who was violently arrested last July during an immigration raid at his workplace and held for three days.
“The right to testify has never been more important,” Blumenthal said in a statement Monday. “I am proud to work with Congressman Frost on bicameral legislation that will strengthen the right to record, view, and peacefully protest—creating real enforcement tools to protect the First Amendment that lays the foundation of our democracy.”
Recording federal law enforcement agents in public is protected by First Amendment duty, as long as the recording does not interfere with the officers’ duties. Federal courts have repeatedly upheld this right.
“The right to respect and record is fundamental to our democracy,” Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel with the ACLU—which sponsored the Right to Record Act—said Monday.
“We cannot hold our government accountable if we cannot see for ourselves what they are doing in our communities,” he said. “Watching and recording allows people to create an independent record, share information with their communities, and demand better from our government.”
“Protesting what we believe in is at the core of the American value, and watching and recording government activities can drive protests that create change,” Leventoff added. “All of these rights are fully protected by the First Amendment, and we hope that Congress will enact them into law by passing the Right to Record Act.”
