In Arizona, Ballard Spahr Fights Law Blocking Police Recording

David J. Bodney, Matthew E. Kelley, and Kennison C. Lay represented a coalition of media outlets in opposing an Arizona law that would have restricted recording of police in certain situations. A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction, finding the law would be "a content-based restriction" on First Amendment rights.

“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,” Mr. Kelley told a reporter from the Associated Press. “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.”

All three Ballard Spahr team members are part of the firm's Litigation Department, and Messrs. Bodney and Kelley are members of the firm's Media and Entertainment Law Group.

Read the full articles below. (Subscription may be required.)

• Law360, "Arizona Judge Puts On Hold Law Blocking Police Recordings"
• National Press Photographers Association, "Injunction blocks Arizona law that limited recording police officers"
• Associated Press, "Federal judge blocks Arizona law limiting filming of police,"
• Arizona Republic, "Federal judge halts Arizona ban on filming police within 8 feet"