BATON ROUGE — A federal judge Friday barred enforcement of a Louisiana law that requires people to stay at least 25 feet away from police officers as they do their work, saying it was "unconstitutionally void for vagueness."

Ruling in a case brought by a variety of media groups, U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles issued a preliminary injunction against the law, saying it was likely that reporters could prove the law violated their rights by preventing them from news-gathering activities.

Attorney General Liz Murrill and State Police Col. Robert Hodges and District Attorney Hillar Moore III had argued the challenge wasn't "ripe" because no one had been accused under the 2024 statute.

The judge said, however, that reporters were put in a position of limiting their own news-gathering activities or risking arrest by being too close to the scene. Also, he said, there were no standards set for when or whether police had to issue a warning to anyone within the 25-foot buffer.

Citing previous case law, deGravelles said a law is unconstitutionally vague when it "failed to provide a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice of what is prohibited, or is so standardless that it authorizes or encourages seriously discriminatory enforcement."

Murrill and the others also argued that media groups weren't entitled to challenge the law on behalf of their employees. The judge rejected the idea that each reporter would have to file their own lawsuit. 

The judge did find that the media groups did not sufficiently demonstrate that the law gives police officers "unbridled discretion," but gave them an opportunity to amend their court filings.

In his 61-page order, deGravelles required the media groups to put up a $100 bond pending a final resolution of the case. "The court finds there is a lack of any real harm to defendants by being unable to enforce an unconstitutional law and there are significant First Amendment issues successfully raised by the plaintiffs," he wrote. 

Grayson Clary is a staff attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and he says the right decision was made.

"I think this is certainly a step in the right direction and it helps journalists and ordinary members of the public exercise their First Amendment rights without worrying about spending a night in jail," Clary said. 

Clary told WBRZ this has not only been an issue in Louisiana but nationwide. 

"This case is not just about Louisiana, these laws are a dangerous trend," he said. "We've seen them cropping up across the nation starting in Indiana and we're glad that federal courts across the country are likewise scrutinizing these laws carefully," he said.

District Attorney Hillar Moore says that the law has the safety of officers in mind.  

"I think the police are gonna do their job to their best, the idea behind this is to give the police some room to operate and be safe," Moore said. "A court has made a ruling and now I'm sure there will be other rulings following this ruling and whatever ultimately is decided is what we will follow," he said.