The law made it illegal to enter a livestock facility under false pretenses or lie on a job application to work for a livestock operation. It was meant to effectively criminalize undercover investigations on livestock farms.
NEW INJUNCTION REQUESTED
Immediately following the Eighth Circuit ruling, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, filed a civil rights request for injunctive relief from a 2021 Iowa bill signed into law in April in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
The new law makes it an aggravated misdemeanor to enter private property without the consent of the owner and take samples of soil, water, or animal products. It also criminalizes placing a camera or other surveillance device on such properties. The law provides protection to property owners beyond agriculture.
In the injunction request, the groups say the new law also violates the First Amendment by restricting undercover investigations at animal facilities.
"Like other ag-gag laws passed after courts rejected early attempts to suppress advocacy groups' investigations, Iowa Code 727.8A seeks to create the gloss of legitimacy by applying to industries beyond agriculture, so that the state can claim its aim is not just to prevent pro-animal speech," the groups said in their court filing.
"And it targets speech alongside other activities, so that the state can claim its real aim is to prohibit conduct, not speech."
The state now has a number of laws on the books designed to protect animal agriculture from undercover investigations into animal facilities.
In June 2020, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law the state's third version of the ag-gag law.
The 2020 law forbids what it calls "food operation trespass," which is now a misdemeanor for a first offense and a felony for subsequent offenses.
The law does not apply to people entering a right-of-way if they have not been notified or requested by signs or other means "to abstain from entering" a right-of-way or "to vacate the right-of-way."
It also does not pertain to people having "lawful authority" to enter onto a property, including federal, state and local government officials.
In addition, it does not apply to people who have been given permission by the owner to be on the property. It does not apply to employees of the facilities who are working.
On March 12, 2019, the Iowa Legislature passed a bill making it a trespass crime to conduct undercover investigations at livestock farms.
It was signed into law by Reynolds two days later. Animal rights groups filed a lawsuit on April 22, 2019. In December 2019, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa granted a preliminary injunction preventing Iowa officials from enforcing the law.
The 2019 law makes it illegal for a person to gain access to an ag facility through deception if the intent is to cause an "injury" to the "business interest" of the facility.
Attempts to pass ag-gag laws have failed in 17 states, including Washington, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.
Similar laws have been found unconstitutional in Kansas, North Carolina, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. Laws currently remain in effect in Montana, North Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas and Alabama.
Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com
Follow him on Twitter @DTNeeley
"right" - Google News
August 13, 2021 at 11:54PM
https://ift.tt/2XlWbfP
Appeals Court Rules Animal Rights Groups Lack First Amendment Right to Lie - DTN The Progressive Farmer
"right" - Google News
https://ift.tt/32Okh02
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Appeals Court Rules Animal Rights Groups Lack First Amendment Right to Lie - DTN The Progressive Farmer"
Post a Comment