Jacob Sullum on the Frequently Flouted Right That Helped Implicate Walter Scott's Killer
Although the First Amendment right to record the police as they perform their duties in public is well established, cops often violate that right by ordering people to turn off their cameras, confiscating their cellphones, or arresting them on trumped-up charges. Jacob Sullum says the shooting of Walter Scott, which last week led to a North Charleston, South Carolina, patrolman's arrest thanks to the details revealed by a bystander's video, illustrates both the prevalence of this contempt for constitutional rights and the importance of counteracting it.