Federal Judge Upholds Arizonans’ Right to Record the Police

The Arizona legislature last year passed a law (H.B. 2319 codified at A.R.S. § 13-3732) banning the video recording of police activity within eight feet of officers, making doing so a class 3 misdemeanor (which would allow for up to 30 days in jail). The law included some exceptions, such as for “a person who is the subject of police contact.”

A coalition of news organizations and the ACLU of Arizona sued state and county government officials in …