U.S. District Court grants injunction, temporarily blocks Indiana’s ‘Buffer Law’

Editors note: Nexstar Media Inc. — the company that owns numerous Indiana TV stations like FOX59, CBS4 and WANE15 — is among the plaintiffs listed in this lawsuit. Other companies that own local TV stations like TEGNA Inc. and Scripps Media are also among the lawsuit’s plaintiffs.

INDIANAPOLIS — A United States District Court issued a preliminary injunction on Indiana’s “Buffer Law” on Friday.

According to court records, Indiana Code 35-44.1-2-14, which went into effect on July 1, 2023, forces civilians, including journalists, to remain 25 feet away from on-duty law enforcement officers performing work-related tasks.

If a person who is not directly involved in the incident comes within 25 feet of police after they’ve been asked to move back, they may be charged with a Class C Misdemeanor. The maximum penalty for a Class C Misdemeanor in Indiana is a 60-day jail sentence and a fine of up to $500.

James R. Sweeney II, a judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, issued the injunction. Sweeney wrote the plaintiffs “are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that (the “Buffer Law”) is unconstitutional. The court indicated the plaintiffs may be able to prove the law is void because it might violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

The injunction claims the “Buffer Law” is vague and “does not define with any specificity the kind of conduct that would prompt an order to move back.” The court also contended that the “Buffer Law” contains “no standards for law enforcement officers to follow in enforcing the law, leaving it susceptible to arbitrary and discretionary enforcement.”

In the injunction, the court also reported that the plaintiffs are “likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief and that there is no adequate remedy at law because (the) plaintiffs have established that the ‘Buffer Law’ has resulted in a loss of their First Amendment Rights.”

The court also found the balance of harms weighed in the plaintiff’s favor because “Indiana’s existing statutes mitigate the harms that may result from this injunction, but the plaintiffs face severe, irreparable damage to their First Amendment rights without an injunction due to the ‘Buffer Law’s’ vagueness and potential for arbitrary enforcement.”

The injunction also indicates the ruling may be in the best interest of the general public, as civilians are unlikely to be harmed by preliminarily stopping enforcement of a statute that is “probably unconstitutional.”

Before the injunction was issued, the defendants in the case — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears and Marion County Sheriff Kerry Forestal — filed a motion to dismiss the case. In their motion to dismiss, the defendants argued the plaintiffs “do not have standing and that this case is not ripe for decision.”

The court did not find either of the defendants’ arguments persuasive, denying the motion to dismiss.

Last October, an Indianapolis woman was arrested for violating the “Buffer Law.” The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office declined to file charges against her .

As of this article’s publication, no additional information on the case had been made available.

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