We have previously blogged about ag-gag laws in general and the Iowa law in particular, the last post about Iowa being on January 3, 2020. Animal rights groups such a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) or the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) conduct undercover investigations of farm and ranch properties to uncover incidents of animal abuse. They often gain access to the property by subterfuge, such as applying for employment without disclosing their true motive.
Farmers and ranchers understandably dislike these kinds of exposures and, in rural states where they enjoy political power, they have persuaded many state legislatures to forbid the practice in some form or another. These statutes raise serious First Amendment issues.
As we reported in the January 3 post, the District Court held that much of the Iowa ag gag law was unconstitutional. On August 10, 2021, in a badly fractured set of opinions, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the judgment in part and reversed it in part. Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Reynolds, 2021 WL 3504493 (8th Cir. 2021).
The Court upheld the section of the statute that prohibited gaining access to agricultural production facilities by false pretenses (the access provision). The Court held that this section merely banned trespass to private property, a legally cognizable harm. It is well settled that consent...
