DENVER — The federal appeals court covering Colorado and five neighboring states on Monday for the first time affirmed that the public’s right to film police is protected under the First Amendment — a landmark ruling celebrated by press freedom organizations.
“Based on First Amendment principles and relevant precedents, we conclude there is a First Amendment right to film the police performing their duties in public,” Judge Scott M. Matheson Jr. wrote in a published opinion on behalf of a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet taken up the issue.
