Court voids recording w/o consent ban. James O’Keefe case

By Oregon Political Watch,

Siding with a conservative media organization famous for its ambush and undercover work, The Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 that Oregon violated the 1st Amendment in it’s rule requiring consent among parties to record conversations.   The case was brought about by James O’Keefe, the former CEO of Project Veritas and also the Project Veritas Action Fund, who does extensive investigations involving hidden recordings. Oregon is only one of five states that prohibit individuals from recording conversations without notice or consent

Court House News Service reports, “Oregon law generally prohibits unannounced recordings of conversations, subject to several exceptions,” U.S. Circuit Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta wrote in the majority opinion. “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.”The statute at issue requires all persons of a conversation to be “specifically informed” for individuals to record oral communications. Project Veritas, an organization dedicated to revealing supposed liberal bias in the media, filed suit over the law in August 2020, claiming the law limits the First Amendment rights of investigative journalists to engage in undercover newsgathering.”

KXL noted, “Circuit Judge Sandra S. Ikuta, from the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena, drafted the opinion, stating that Oregon lacks a compelling interest in protecting conversational privacy in public places from individuals exercising their right to free speech, even if it involves audio or visual recordings of others. Ikuta further explained that the law in Oregon amounts to a “content-based restriction” that violates the First Amendment, rendering it invalid on its face.”