Week of December 28, 2020

First Amendment protects right to record, audio and video, government officials, including law enforcement officers, discharging their duties in a public place, even without consent of person recorded; some limitations on the right may comport with First Amendment; Massachusetts statute banning secret recording without regard to topics or ideas recorded was content neutral and therefore not subject to strict scrutiny, statute must be subjected to intermediate scrutiny; statute held unconstitutional because not narrowly tailored to further governmental interests of preventing interference wi

Taking facts in plaintiff’s favor, officers who kicked and punched suspect—twenty-six blunt-force strikes and two rounds of tasing, while he was face down in fetal position, not suspected of any crime, not posing a threat to officers or others, and not actively resisting arrest, violated clearly established Fourth Amendment rights and would not be entitled to qualified immunity; court affords qualified immunity to bystander officers for failure to intervene because plaintiffs failed to cite an analogous case.

Suit by practicing Muslims for injunctive relief and damages on claim that federal agents placed them on No Fly List for refusing to act as informants against their religious communities; injured parties may sue government officials in their personal capacities under RFRA; relief under RFRA includes money damages.