As was recently covered here, a Morgan County, IL state’s attorney by the name of Robert Bonjean declared his intentions to selectively enforce a state law declared unconstitutional by the Seventh Circuit Court. The law in question was the 1960 Eavesdropping Law that forbade recordings without the consent of both parties. The court stated that using this statute to prevent citizens from recording police was likely unconstitutional. Shortly thereafter, a citizen (Randy Newingham) was detained for doing exactly that. Bonjean said he wouldn’t issue a “blanket statement” on citizens’ recordings and would take it on a “case-by-case” basis.

Chris Drew’s case and others brought this issue to light and the Seventh Circuit ruled it unconstitutional, but bull-headed state law enforcement officials just can’t get it through their heads. There was an effort to pass a new eavesdropping law, but that was dropped in light of the court decision. Looks like the legislators need to get to business and pass a new law.