A U.S. court has ruled that citizens have “no constitutional” rights to record police officers on their cellphones, regardless of whether cops are acting unlawfully. Judge Mark Kearney in Philadelphia said that citizens must explicitly explain to cops that they are recording them for the purpose of criticizing police – otherwise face arrest. “We find there is no First Amendment right under our governing law to observe and record police officers absent some other expressive conduct,” Kearney said in reference to two cases involving Philadelphia police. Mcall.com reports: Standing silently with a phone or camera doesn’t cut it, he said. His opinion conflicts with federal court opinions elsewhere in the country and has been appealed. The ruling hasn’t prompted police in the Lehigh Valley and elsewhere in Pennsylvania to change policies and shouldn’t deter people from recording because it’s not illegal. “Even if there were no constitutional rights to record the police, that still doesn’t make it a crime to record the police,” said Molly Tack-Hooper, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Philadelphia who is working on the cases. Yet the ruling is important because if the appeal fails, that could clear the way for state lawmakers to try [...]