Why We Filed an Amicus Brief in Project Veritas v. Vasquez

When truth-tellers risk everything to expose injustice, it’s our duty to defend them.

That’s why we recently filed an amicus brief in Project Veritas v. Vasquez, challenging Oregon’s sweeping ban on undercover investigations. The law makes it a felony to secretly record a conversation—even in a public setting.

This expansive and unconstitutional law could be used to prosecute whistleblowers, sidewalk counselors, investigative journalists, and pro-life advocates simply for documenting what they see and hear. Yet undercover investigations have long been essential to exposing injustice—including criminal activity by individuals and organizations funded with taxpayer dollars.

As reported in Just the News, Oregon’s dangerous law has united an unlikely coalition—from pro-life organizations to animal rights groups, journalists, and farm advocates. We may not agree on everything, but we all agree: the government cannot criminalize truth-telling.

Life Legal’s brief argues that undercover reporting has played a crucial role in uncovering corruption and wrongdoing throughout history and remains essential to achieving accountability and reform. The First Amendment protects the right to gather and share evidence of abuse, especially when that abuse involves vulnerable human lives.

Why does it matter? Because we have represented:

• Sidewalk counselors who use video to expose coercion and abuse outside abortion clinics.
• Pro-life advocates who document violations of medical standards inside abortion facilities.
• Parents who lawfully record videos showing that their children are denied life-sustaining care.
•  Undercover investigators who exposed the trafficking of aborted baby body parts—and the abortionists’ shockingly callous conversations about dismembering babies in the womb.
• Pro-life activists accused of assault and other violations who had video footage we used in court to disprove the allegations.
• A whistleblower who uncovered illegal labeling by abortion pill manufacturer Danco, which failed to disclose that its drugs were produced in China.

Without the freedom to record and report, these and many other injustices would remain hidden.

Life Legal is urging the Supreme Court to review Project Veritas v. Vasquez and rule that Oregon’s ban on surprise audio recordings in undercover journalism violates the First Amendment.

Thank you for standing with us. Your support allows Life Legal to speak up—in court, in the public square – and in defense of those who risk everything to expose injustice.