State Eavesdropping Law ‘Likely Violates’ First Amendment: Courts

A federal appeals court in Chicago ruled May 8 that Illinois’ eavesdropping law “likely violates” the First Amendment and ordered that authorities be banned from enforcing it, according to a WGN Radio report of a Chicago Tribune news story.

The ruling from the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago is the strongest blow yet to the law, which is one of the strictest in the country and makes it illegal for people to audio record police officers in public without their consent.

The ruling follows last month’s announcement by Chicago officials that they would not enforce the law during the May 20-21 NATO summit when potentially thousands of people armed with smart phones and video cameras are expected to demonstrate in the city.

Public debate over Illinois’ law has been simmering since last summer.

According to Tribune reports, in August, a Cook County jury acquitted a woman who had been charged for recording Chicago police internal affairs investigators she believed were trying to dissuade her from filing a sexual harassment complaint against a patrol officer.

Judges in Cook and Crawford counties later declared the law unconstitutional, and the McLean County state's attorney cited flaws in the law when he dropped charges in February against a man accused of recording an officer during a traffic stop.

Officials at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office were still reviewing the 66-page ruling and were not yet prepared to comment on it, spokeswoman Sally Daly said.

Meanwhile, state legislators are considering a bill that would allow people to record police officers working in public.