In a much anticipated decision from the United States District Court for the District of Idaho,  Idaho Code Section 18-7042, which is commonly referred to as an “ag gag law” (hereinafter “the Statute”) has been deemed unconstitutional, specifically violating the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Background After a secret, undercover investigation by the animal rights group Mercy for Animals was released and showed abuse of cows at an Idaho dairy, a bill was introduced by several ag groups to criminalize… Read More →

Judge B. Lynn Winmill, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Idaho has denied a motion to dismiss a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Idaho Interference with Agricultural Production statute, known as the “ag gag” statute.  [Read full opinion here]. Under the statute, passed in 2014, a person commits a crime if he or she knowingly enters an agricultural production facility by force, threat, misrepresentation, or trespass; obtains records of an agricultural operation by force, threat, misrepresentation, or trespass; obtains employment with an agricultural… Read More →