Animal rights and food safety activists filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging Iowa’s latest ag-gag law making it a crime to conduct undercover investigations of livestock facilities. A previous ag-gag law was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in January. (Courthouse News Service, April 22, 2019, by Rox Laird)
The ACLU brought the lawsuit on behalf of the activists, and the legal director of Iowa ACLU said in outlawing deception, the new law targets both lies and omissions and violates the First Amendment protecting exposes, boycotts and protests. (The Gazette, April 22, 2019, by Rod Boshart)
A federal judge struck down a 2012 ag-gag law on free speech grounds. The law made it a crime to lie to get a job at a farm to do undercover reporting. Advocates opposing the new law say it is essential that undercover investigations continue to reveal food safety, labor and animal welfare problems. A state senator and hog farmer said that protection was needed against deceptions that would lead to skewing public perceptions of “best practices to safely and responsibly produce food.” (KCAU 9, April 22, 2019, by David Pitt of The Associated Press)