Whether the First Amendment protects the right to secretly record oral communications

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Massachusetts law prohibits all secret recording of oral communications by anyone who is not a law enforcement officer. This does great damage to an irreplaceable and important form of newsgathering. Project Veritas Action Fund regularly uses secret audio recording to capture newsworthy information and report it to the public. Realizing Massachusetts law banned it from operating in the state, Project Veritas Action Fund challenged the reach of Massachusetts General Laws chapter 272, section 99. After acknowledging Project Veritas Action Fund would make the secret recordings detailed in the case but for the law, the panel below ruled the law was not facially overbroad and determined the as-applied challenges were unripe and presented no live case or controversy. The questions presented are: 1. Whether the First Circuit erred in holding— in direct conflict with the Illinois Supreme Court and in conflict with four other circuit courts of appeals—that a recording law which makes it a felony for individuals to secretly record under any circumstances is not facially overbroad under the First Amendment. 2. Whether the First Circuit erred in holding— in direct conflict with five other circuit courts of appeals—that a party challenging a speechsuppressive law has the burden to precisely articulate every type of contemplated speech activity to satisfy ripeness for as-applied challenges.