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Judge temporarily halts enforcement of law creating 25-foot bubble around on-duty police

A law enforcement vehicle with "Sheriff" and a star symbol along its side.
FILE PHOTO: Justin Hicks
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IPB News
One federal judge has said the so-called "Buffer Law" was likely not unconstitutional because it wasn't too broad. A different federal judge ruled the law likely is unconstitutional because it's too vague.

A federal judge has temporarily halted enforcement of a 2023 Indiana law that criminalizes anyone who gets within 25 feet of an on-duty police officer after being told to stop.

Lawmakers argued HEA 1186 was meant to protect police. A group of media organizations and Indianapolis newspaper and television stations sued the state last year over the law.

Judge James Sweeney said the measure is unconstitutionally vague. He said it allows police to order someone to move back at least 25 feet for any or no reason at all.

“Simply being within 25 feet of a police officer is not a crime,” Sweeney wrote. “And indeed, important First Amendment rights are regularly exercised within 25 feet of law enforcement every single day.”

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Sweeney also said the law doesn’t identify any behavior that would require police to order someone to move back. And his ruling said law enforcement “cannot expect to operate with a 25-foot forcefield around them.”

There is a separate lawsuit over the buffer law, filed by a citizen in South Bend. That case is currently before the federal Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

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Brandon Smith has covered the Statehouse for Indiana Public Broadcasting for more than a decade, spanning three governors and a dozen legislative sessions. He's also the host of Indiana Week in Review, a weekly political and policy discussion program seen and heard across the state. He previously worked at KBIA in Columbia, Missouri and WSPY in Plano, Illinois. His first job in radio was in another state capitol - Jefferson City, Missouri - as a reporter for three stations around the Show-Me State.