It was nearly three years ago that James O’Keefe walked into the Federal Courthouse in Portland wearing a bulletproof vest surrounded by six security guards arriving in two different black cars. That was the Portland atmosphere amid the BLM, ANTIFA, George Floyd riots that required caution to deliver his complaint against Oregon’s recording law. That law was overturned this week by the Ninth Circuit Court.

The original case was dismissed by Oregon Attorney General, Ellen Rosenblum, and the Multnomah County District Attorney, Michael Schmidt. O’Keefe’s appeal to the Ninth Circuit “alleged that because section ORS 165.540 favored recording some subjects, but disfavored others, the differential treatment rendered section ORS 165.540(1)(c) and its exceptions unconstitutional.” He is referring to a bill, HB 2704 passed in 2015, that allowed citizens to record interactions with law enforcement officers unknowingly. Even ACLU testified that it was inconsistent with courts and legal scholars on the public right to record on-duty police.

Writing for the majority on the panel, Judge Sandra S. Ikuta wrote, “Oregon law generally prohibits unannounced recordings of conversations, subject to several exceptions. We conclude that Oregon’s law is a content-based restriction that violates the First Amendment right to free speech and is therefore invalid on its face.”

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

O’Keefe announced to his subscribers, “I was able to change a state law that disallowed my investigative journalists to covertly record their subjects while doing our reporting. This is a first for journalism and for myself as the founder of three different investigative media companies.” He continued, “After over a million dollars in legal fees, many late nights with counsel and advisers, and yes.....even security escorts and of course the safety of black car transportation, history has been made in this country! No other news media outlet has ever toppled an unconstitutional State Law and this is just the beginning for us.”


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2023-07-03 21:36:07

Last Update: 2023-07-04 13:27:56