Case Particulars

Tribunal

United States Supreme Court

Date Filed

May 6, 2024

Docket No.

No. 23-1090

Case Status

Petition for Certiorari Filed; EPP Filed Amicus Curiae Brief Supporting Petitioner; Petition Denied 6/10/2024

Case Overview

Massachusetts high school administrators refused to let Scott Pitta video record a meeting held to discuss the Pitta family’s son’s removal from the school’s special needs program, and that refusal followed the school’s inability, for whatever reason, to produce accurate records of what had happened at a previous zoom meeting.

So Mr. Pitta, himself an attorney, filed suit on his own, or pro se, against the school district in federal court in Massachusetts, arguing that under the First Amendment to the Untied States Constitution, he had a right to video record government officials in the performance of their official duties.

The case was dismissed, and that dismissal was affirmed on appeal, with the trial-level and appellate federal courts both holding that there is no First Amendment right to record government officials unless the recording is done in public and the recording party plans to distribute the video to the public.

Pitta asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case, and the Equal Protection Project filed an amicus curiae, or “friend of the Court,” brief in support of the Petitioner, Scott Pitta. Unfortunately, on June 10, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case (see U.S. Supreme Court docket indicating “Petition DENIED” here).