Texas resident makes claims that Texas drone law is unconstitutional

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Last week, Texas resident, Manuel Flores, filed suit in Texas challenging the constitutionality of the state’s drone surveillance law. His suit claims that the law treats approximately 1 million residents categorically different from those in the rest of the state. The Texas drone law at issue here, Section 423.002(a)(14) of the Texas Government Code, states that it is lawful to use drones to take photos for academic research, law enforcement and other public safety measures, mapping, and the protection of oil pipelines as well as images of real property or a person on real property within 25 miles of the U.S. border. Flores argues that this law singles out residents along the Texas-Mexico border, reduces privacy rights, and that this law serves no legitimate law enforcement purpose because other provisions of Texas state law already allow the government to take photos or video footage of Texans anywhere in the state. Flores also argues that the law cannot survive the strict scrutiny test applied in constitutional cases, because the law targets a suspect category of people –those of Mexican ancestry. We will keep our eyes on this case and see how it pans out.

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