Donald Nicodemus v. City of South Bend, Indiana

South Bend, Indiana civil rights lawyers represent the Plaintiff seeking a declaratory judgment declaring Indiana's "buffer law" unconstitutional.



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Indiana has a "buffer law” making it a crime for a person to knowingly or intentionally approach an officer who is "lawfully engaged in the execution of the law enforcement officer's duties after the law enforcement officer has ordered the person to stop approaching.” Indiana Code (I.C.) § 35-44.1-2-14. Seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, Donald Nicodemus, a citizen-journalist, challenged the law as facially unconstitutional. He argues that it violates his First Amendment right to record the police in public spaces.



After consolidating Nicodemus's motion for a preliminary injunction with a trial on the merits, the district court found Indiana's buffer law to be constitutional because it only had an "incidental effect” on the public's First Amendment right to record and scrutinize police activity.

The district court denied Nicodemus’s injunction request and entered final judgment for the defendants.



Affirmed