[Vision2020] Idaho's ag-gag law challenged in federal court

[Saundra Lund]

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/03/17/3085466/aclu-other-groups-sue-idaho
-over.html

 

Idaho's ag-gag law challenged in federal court

By Statesman staff

newsroom at idahostatesman.com <mailto:newsroom at idahostatesman.com> 

March 17, 2014 Updated 34 minutes ago 


A coalition of organizations and journalists on Monday filed a federal
lawsuit to overturn Idaho’s newly passed “ag-gag” law, which jails people
who secretly film animal abuse at Idaho's agricultural facilities.

Under the new law, signed by Gov. Butch Otter on Feb. 28, anyone who films
or records on an agricultural operation without permission will face up to a
year in jail. That's double the maximum penalty for animal cruelty under
Idaho law.

The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of Idaho’s new law. 

“The Idaho law is deeply distressing because it is aimed entirely at
protecting an industry, especially in its worst practices that endanger
people, at the expense of freedom of speech. It even would criminalize a
whistle-blower who took a picture or video of wrongdoing in the workplace,”
said Professor Erwin Chemerinsky, constitutional law expert and dean at the
University of California, Irvine School of Law, in a press release. “I am
confident that this law will be struck down under Ninth Circuit and Supreme
Court precedents.”

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Animal Legal Defense Fund, People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals, American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho,
Center for Food Safety, Farm Sanctuary, Farm Forward, Idaho Concerned Area
Residents for the Environment, Idaho Hispanic Caucus Institute for Research
and Education, River’s Wish Sanctuary, Sandpoint Vegetarians, Western
Watersheds Project, journalist Will Potter, undercover investigations
consultant Daniel Hauff, investigator Monte Hickman, Professor James
McWilliams, investigative journalist Blair Koch and the political journal
CounterPunch.

Idaho is the seventh state to pass an ag-gag law, and the first to do so
since 2012.

The legislation, promoted heavily by Idaho's dairy industry, comes after
videos released by Los Angeles-based vegetarian and animal rights group
Mercy for Animals showed workers at Bettencourt Dairy beating, stomping and
sexually abusing cows in 2012. An activist secretly filmed the abuse after
getting a job at the dairy.

"The U.S. Constitution protects free speech and freedom of the press,
including journalistic exposés of industrial animal production. Like other
ag gag laws, Idaho’s statute criminalizes whistle-blowing investigations at
factory farms, and specifically targets animal advocates who expose illegal
and cruel practices. Idaho’s ag gag law makes it illegal for anyone to take
photos or videos at a factory farm or slaughterhouse without the owner’s
express consent. If convicted under the ag gag law, a whistle-blower would
face up to a year in prison and a $5,000 fine. By comparison, the maximum
jail term for a first-offense conviction of animal cruelty in Idaho is six
months. In other words, Idaho more severely punishes those who expose animal
cruelty than those who commit it," according to the press release. 

Read the Complaint:

http://media.idahostatesman.com/smedia/2014/03/17/12/07/17TxOC.So.36.pdf#sto
rylink=relast

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20140317/5bde3736/attachment.html>