Ferguson no-fly zone was to keep media from covering protests

[Xithras]

13. Per the USSC, local governments (including police) have no authority over air space. At all.

Per federal law, local police departments do NOT have the authority to close airspace. They can request that the FAA issue a TFR and close it, but the FAA is under no obligation to comply with that request, and local police agencies have no recourse if the FAA declines.

Under federal law, TFR's are only to be granted if the requesting authority can demonstrate that leaving the airspace open presents an immediate threat to passing aircraft or to people on the ground. There have been situations where TFR's have been legitimately issued for police actions, including hostage situations where live TV coverage would have given hostage takers operational information about the police surrounding them.

If FPD requested an airspace closure simply to keep the press away, the request was not legal. It's certainly not the first time the government has done this sort of thing (the government also closed the airspace above the BP oil spill for a while), but it's not something that is legal OR legitimate. The government does NOT have the legal authority to do this kind of crap, but we still see this kind of Bush-era behavior because nobody has bothered to slap their hand for it yet.

It's time for the media to file some lawsuits so the courts can commence with the hand slapping. The Constitution protects the press, not the police.