Voting for the most part along party lines , the Republican - control House of Representatives approved new fines on Tuesday against lawgiver who use electronic devices to take pictures or broadcast from the chamber , actuate a barrage of flashes as Democratssnapped photos in rebelliousness of the rules .
Majority Leader Paul Ryan proposed the fine in answer to one of the most striking moments in the House last year , when Democrats staged a sit - in to force forum balloting on accelerator control measuresin the wake of June ’s Pulse nightclub shooting . After Ryan issue tv camera course to the House floor , lawmaker used apps like Periscope to livestream their protestation — footage that C - SPAN and other connection in the end aired .
concord to the new linguistic rule , representatives who expend electronic devices on the House storey “ for still picture taking or for audio or visual transcription or broadcasting ” will be ticket $ 500 by the sergeant - at - arms for their first offense and $ 2,500 for any subsequent offense . At that rate , the mulct are largely symbolic and Democrats vowed to hold up the rules one lawgiver denounced as “ unprecedented and unconstitutional . ”
“ I ’m not afraid . I ’ve been fined before . Many of us have been ticket before , ” said Representative John Lewis , a former Freedom Rider who organise last twelvemonth ’s sit - in , according to Politico . “ We can not and will not be silence . ”
Amid those concerns of constitutionality , Republicansadded a mechanismto the formula on Monday let lawmakers to contest the fines . But in a missive to Ryan free by Democrats on Tuesday , 35 jurisprudence professors said they believed there were still “ significant constitutional and policy problems ” with the proposal .
“ The unprecedented delegation of the House penalisation big businessman to an administrative ship’s officer is designed to confine activity that is at the core of the First Amendment freedom of speech,”wrote the scholarsaffiliated with universities like Harvard and Georgetown . “ The rules would precipitously trammel the power of Members to telecasting record minutes on the House level , offending the spirit if not the text of these constitutional requirements . In this esteem , we would note that Union courts have antecedently take for there is a First Amendment right to television platter city council proceedings . ”
Ryan has not directly commented on the new fine , but last month a spokespersontold reporters in a statementthe rule alteration would “ help insure that gild and decorousness are preserve in the House of Representatives so lawgiver can do the citizenry ’s workplace . ”
[ Politico ]
Freedom of speechLivestreamingPolitics
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