Photojournalist Victory - Yet 1st Amendment Initially Ignored

It's frustrating as a card-carrying member of the press corps, to see a fellow photojournalist harassed by law enforcement. Such was the case when, in December of 2009, "David Morse, a respected and veteran independent photojournalist was arrested while covering the student protests at the Chancellor's House on the UC Berkeley campus", according to their press release.

While you can read all about it here, on the First Amendment Project website (which represented him pro bono), it's frustrating to see that he had to jump through so many hoops and law enforcement (at least, to date) has not been punished for their violation of his constitutional rights.

Recently, FAP announced:

Oakland - On Friday, June 18, an Alameda County Superior Court judge quashed an illegal search warrant issued for the unpublished news photographs of veteran photojournalist David Morse. The court also ordered the return of all of Morse's photographs, including any copies made by the University. The court also ordered the University to declare under oath what agencies received copies of the photographs, if any.

While these victories are welcome, it's like applauding for something that was a given in the first place (or should have been.)

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