American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois v. Alvarez

Dist. Ct. erred in dismissing on standing grounds plaintiffs' action challenging on First Amendment grounds Ill. eavesdropping statute that made it illegal to audio record conversation unless all parties to conversation gave their consent, where plaintiff sought to openly make audio-visual recordings of police officers performing their duties in public places and speaking at volume audible to bystanders. Standing was established where plaintiff's proposed action of recording police officers increased likelihood of arrest and prosecution under instant statute, and where defendant's office had previously filed three cases asserting violation of instant statute against individuals, who had recorded on-duty police officers. Ct. further found that plaintiffs were entitled to entry of preliminary injunction that would block defendant from enforcing instant eavesdropping statute as applied to plaintiffs' proposed actions since, under immediate scrutiny standard, instant statute restricted far more speech than was necessary to protect legitimate privacy interests and otherwise violated free-speech and free-press guarantees. (Dissent filed.)