House Bill 20 would be right at home in authoritarian regimes in Russia and North Korea
Ohio lawmakers are following the lead of the Trump administration in seeking to trample all over the First Amendment guarantee of the right to free speech.hosts said the authors should move to Russia if they want to live in a land with the kind of rules they propose.
would make it a crime to “harass” police officers, potentially sending citizens to jail for nothing more than exercising their constitutionally protected right to criticize public officials.“Yeah, these guys ought to just go to Russia and be part of an authoritarian government,” said Chris Quinn, editor of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, in a fiery rebuke of the legislation. “This flat out illegal in America. You get to say what you think. You get to yell at people.” The legislation states that harassment must occur within 14 feet of an officer and after a warning has been issued, but critics argue that the intentionally vague language gives too much discretion to officers who might simply be uncomfortable with being recorded or criticized. “I’m allowed to stand on the street and call out to a police officer, hey, you’re doing the wrong thing. That’s not illegal. That’s protected speech. That is what the First Amendment is there for. It’s to protect us from being abused because of stuff we have to say,” Quinn explained during the podcast discussion. One of the bill’s lead sponsors, Phil Plummer, who worked as a sheriff and deputy for 30 years, defends the legislation as a “halo bill” that gives officers space to operate and creates a buffer between protesters and police. Critics see this as a thinly veiled attempt to prevent civilians from recording police misconduct. Perhaps most telling is that even the Ohio Prosecutors Association has spoken out against the bill, pointing out that existing laws already address truly problematic behaviors. “Even the Prosecutors Association said, we already have laws on the book. We can use those if we need it. It’s obstructing something and then disorderly conduct. So if they’re causing actual problems, they can already be arrested,” noted Laura Johnston. The podcast discussion highlights how this bill represents a disturbing trend of attempts to criminalize constitutionally protected activity. Quinn didn’t mince words about the sponsors: “They are violating sacrosanct principles of our government, and we should put their faces and names everywhere as anti-American.” If passed, the bill would likely face constitutional challenges in court, but the very introduction of such legislation raises concerns about some lawmakers’ understanding of—or respect for—the First Amendment.Note: Artificial intelligence was used to help generate this story from Today in Ohio, a news podcast discussion by cleveland.com editors. Visitors to cleveland.com have asked for more text stories based on website podcast discussions.Listen to full “Today in Ohio” episodes If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our
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