Six news organizations are suing to block the enforcement of a new Louisiana law they say will interfere with journalists’ ability to do their jobs, arguing that the law improperly gives police officers the power to limit people from approaching them.
News outlets including Gannett Co., Verite News and Scripps Media filed the federal lawsuit July 31 in the Middle District of Louisiana. They allege that the new law, House Bill 173, violates journalists’ First and 14th Amendment rights to get close enough to police officers to document news events in public places.
HB 173, which went into effect on Aug. 1, makes it a crime to come within 25 feet of police officers who are lawfully performing their jobs and order someone to stop approaching them. The law imposes a maximum punishment of a $500 fine and 60 days of imprisonment.
“The act authorizes law enforcement officers to bar journalists (and the public) from reporting – for any reason or no reason – on a wide range of events of public interest, including a parade, a rally, an arrest or an accident scene,” the lawsuit states.
The law will make it more difficult for reporters in Louisiana to document the activities of police officers and to shine the light on how they are performing their duties, according to the complaint.
“Reporters across Louisiana come into close contact with law enforcement officers on a routine basis – when covering everything from crime scenes and press conferences to Mardi Gras and Louisiana State University (LSU) football games,” the lawsuit states. “The act would, in all of those scenarios and more, empower officers to force journalists and members of the public out of sight and earshot. …”
“If allowed to stand, this law will force journalists to choose between halting their reporting on newsworthy events where police are present, or continuing their coverage and risk committing a crime and facing arrest,” Katie Townsend, legal director for the Washington-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said in a statement emailed to the Louisiana Record. “Such an unconstitutional restriction not only harms newsgathering but also ultimately deprives the public of important information.”
The Reporters Committee, which is one of the organizations representing the plaintiffs, has also criticized similar measures enacted in other states. The committee in October 2023 filed a lawsuit over a nearly identical measure enacted in Indiana.
If such a law were in place in Minnesota during the murder of George Floyd, police officers could have ordered a witness to step back so she could not easily film the detainment of Floyd, according to the committee. Former Minneapolis officers were later found responsible for Floyd’s death.
The defendants in the Louisiana lawsuit are Attorney General Liz Murrill, Superintendent of the Louisiana State Police Robert Hodges and East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III.
Opponents of the new law also point out that it gives officers overly broad authority to limit people from approaching them even when individuals do not pose a safety risk. The law also offers no requirement that police accommodate the First Amendment rights of journalists, they say.
The lawsuit calls on the federal district court to declare the new law in violation of reporters’ constitutional rights to document officers’ actions, to put in place an injunction restraining defendants from enforcing the act and to award plaintiffs reimbursement for attorneys’ fees and legal costs.