The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that a Kansas law was unconstitutional that made it a crime to enter an animal facility to take photos under false pretenses and without the owner’s consent. The 10th circuit said that Kansas could not discriminate based on whether the intent was to help or harm the facility. (Free Speech Center, April 25, 2022, by The Associated Press)
The 10th Circuit wrote in its 2021 ruling, “[T]he text and legislative history of the Act evince Kansas’s desire to limit the ability of [the Animal Legal Defense Fund] and like organizations to engage in true speech critical of animal facilities.. . .. We reject this approach because it elevates form over substance and permits Kansas to do just what the First Amendment prohibits: ‘license one side of a debate to fight freestyle, while requiring the other to follow Marquis of Queensberry rules.’” (Animal Legal Defense Fund, April 26, 2022, press release)