More turmoil for the super-controversial eavesdropping laws in Illinois…

The Seventh Circuit ruled today that the law “likely violates” the First Amendment by making it illegal to make audio recordings of on-duty police officers in public settings without their consent.

Director of the ACLU Harvey Grossman, the party that brought the case to the 7th Circuit, noted in a statement on the ruling that “In order to make the rights of free expression and petition effective, individuals and organizations must be able to freely gather and record information about the conduct of government and their agents – especially the police.”

This ruling is especially interesting considering the recent statement by the City of Chicago that it did not plan on enforcing the rule during the upcoming NATO summit.

See our previous coverage on a proposed change to the law here, and continuing coverage on the law’s various court battles by Mudd Law Offices over here.