The U.S. Department of Justice is urging the federal appeals court based in Denver to establish that the First Amendment protects the public s right to record police in the performance
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(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)
RICHMOND, Va. (CN) The Fourth Circuit appeared unlikely Thursday afternoon to side with Maryland in a dispute over state courts’ ability to limit the dissemination of otherwise publicly available court recordings.
“The government has already made the subject information available,” said U.S. Circuit Judge Pamela Harris, a Barack Obama appointee, who at times sounded noticeably perturbed by the state’s claim that broadcasting raw audio or video is illegal but allowing reenactments of that same content is fine.
“What matters is what they made public,” she said. “You’re getting an actual video or audio record.”
Less than a month after advocacy groups said they would sue Allegheny County if it did not provide electronic access to its criminal court proceedings, administrators said the public will be able to watch virtual hearings beginning next week. Court administrator Christopher Connors said Friday that members of the community