Co-Sponsor the Right to Record Act

Nine federal appeals courts protect the right to film police, but DHS has called recording its agents obstruction.

A letter to your members of Congress. Facts checked September 24, 2026.

The explainer behind this letter Know Your Rights at Protests Your rights at a protest, recording police, and staying safe

The Letter

Subject Co-Sponsor the Right to Record Act, H.R. 9189 and S. 4696

Nine federal appeals courts have held that the First Amendment protects filming police in public. Federal agents are acting as if it does not. A DHS spokesperson said in December that recording officers "sure sounds like obstruction of justice," and observers in Maine say agents scanned their faces and called them domestic terrorists for filming.

The right exists, but there is almost no way to enforce it against a federal officer. The Right to Record Act, H.R. 9189 and S. 4696, fixes that. It lets a person sue a federal officer who stops them from recording, threatens them, or follows them for it, with damages of $25,000 per violation.

Video is often the only record a bystander has. ProPublica found that video repeatedly contradicted officers' accounts of protest arrests in the immigration sweeps, and more than a third of those cases fell apart.

Please co-sponsor the Right to Record Act.

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Call Your Representative

U.S. Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121

I'm calling to ask my member of Congress to co-sponsor the Right to Record Act, H.R. 9189 in the House and S. 4696 in the Senate.
Nine federal appeals courts say filming police in public is protected, but DHS has called recording its agents obstruction of justice.
The bill lets people sue a federal officer who stops them from recording or retaliates against them for it.
I'm a constituent. Please co-sponsor it.

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The Facts Behind the Ask

9 federal appeals courts that protect recording police in public, the Second Circuit joining in August 2026 (source)
300+ protesters and bystanders arrested in immigration sweeps since June 2025; more than a third of the cases were dropped, never filed, or lost (source)
$25,000 statutory damages per violation the Right to Record Act would allow against a federal officer (source)

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