A federal court has made a landmark ruling, saying that U.S. citizens have a First Amendment Constitutional right to film cops. Amid the ongoing battle between police and citizens over who has the right to film in public spaces, a federal civil rights lawsuit has finally put the matter to bed. In a lawsuit filed by Phillip Turner vs. Driver, Grinald, and Dyess, a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has finally ruled that the rights of the American public to hold officials accountable, is sacrosanct. Activistpost.com reports: The court determined, “We conclude that First Amendment principles, controlling authority, and persuasive precedent demonstrate that a First Amendment right to record the police does exist, subject only to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions.” The court set the first ever precendent giving citizens the right to film police, within reason, of course. In other words, the court believes the public has a right to film police so long as it is within reason, in public, and not in private. Going further, the court seemed to empathize with the public’s demand for a transparent government. They wrote, “speech is an essential mechanism of democracy, for it is the means to hold officials accountable to the people. [...]
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