Legal Features

True Blue Auctions, LLC v. Foster

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to overturn the dismissal of a First Amendment lawsuit against two police officers who threatened a business owner with arrest simply for videotaping his own business activities and his subsequent interaction with the police while on a public sidewalk in Franklin, Pennsylvania. The officers with the Franklin Police Department allegedly informed Skip Dreibelbis, president of True Blue Auctions, that by videotaping on a public sidewalk, he was violating wiretapping laws. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the police officers were protected by qualified immunity because the constitutional right to videotape police in public is not “clearly established.” The Institute’s appeal argues that the court erred in its ruling, citing a number of court rulings establishing that videotaping police officers is a constitutionally protected activity.

The Rutherford Institute’s brief in True Blue Auctions, LLC v. Foster is available here.