Citizens have the right to record the actions of law enforcement officers on duty, a federal court in Missouri affirmed in a ruling Friday, according to the Huffington Post. The decision by District Judge John A. Ross comes ahead of an expected grand jury decision on whether to indict Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson.

In August, Wilson shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown, an incident that at times spurred violent protests in the St. Louis suburb. Ensuing tensions were covered extensively in national and international media, prompting renewed debates on race relations in the United States, as well as what many view as the "militarization" of U.S. police forces.

The American Civil Liberties Union sought Friday's order "after several violations of a previous agreement between the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the County of St. Louis and the City of Ferguson," the Huffington Post detailed. Ross upheld the right of the public to record and document law enforcement officers on duty.

The ACLU sought an injunction against alleged violations of the August agreement, which affirmed that "the media and members of the public have a right to record public events without abridgement unless it obstructs the activity or threatens the safety of others, or physically interferes with the ability of law enforcement officers to perform their duties."

Ross wrote that the highway patrol and county police are "permanently enjoined from enforcing a policy or custom of interfering with individuals who are photographing or recording at public places but who are not threatening the safety of others or physically interfering with the ability of law enforcement to perform their duties," according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"The police's poor handling of media and the public recording their behavior in Ferguson, Missouri, became as much part of the news as its militarized response when faced with protesters upset with Michael Brown's shooting," Reason magazine opined.

Journalists were arrested, and people were told they couldn't record the police. Media helicopters were kept out through a no-fly zone order.

The libertarian publication, meanwhile, shed doubt as to the effectiveness of Friday's order. "Unfortunately, police have a lengthy history of flat out ignoring such orders in the field," Reason cautioned.

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