UN-GAGGED: U.S. federal appeals court strikes down state law banning filming inside animal farms
The court’s ruling recognizes that all Americans have a right to know that workers in the meat industry kick pigs in the face, stomp on chickens and turkeys, and smash piglets’ heads against concrete floors.
RACHEL WEINER: A North Carolina law aimed at stopping investigations by animal rights activists violates constitutional free speech protections, an appellate court ruled… The 2015 law bars employees from going into “nonpublic areas of an employer’s premises” for reasons unrelated to work and gathering documents or making recordings that “breach the person’s duty of loyalty to the employer”…
Eight years later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit has deemed the law a discriminatory intrusion on free speech. “If PETA’s actions truly violate some lawful prohibition (like trespass), PETA may be charged for that violation,” the court wrote. “What North Carolina may not do, however, is craft a law targeting PETA’s protected right to speak.”
The state’s claim that such undercover operations fall outside the First Amendment “is a dangerous proposition that would wipe the Constitution’s most treasured protections from large tranches of our daily lives,” the judges said. “Fortunately, it has no basis in law”…
It was one of a wave of laws passed across the country in response to undercover exposés of the mistreatment of animals on large factory farms. Each one challenged in federal court has been found at least in part unconstitutional, said David Muraskin of Public Justice, a legal nonprofit that led a group challenge to the law.
This decision is particularly important, he said, because it ties together several elements used in other recent “ag-gag laws” — it did not specifically target agriculture, it created civil liability rather than a new crime, and it focused on recording and data collection. That the court still deemed the law unconstitutional shows, Muraskin said, “that the ability of people to conduct investigations and expose misconduct is protected by the First Amendment”…
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [PETA] sued along with other animal rights activists and pro-whistleblower groups… PETA attorney Jared Goodman said in a statement… “The court’s ruling recognizes PETA‘s position that all Americans have a right to know that workers in the meat industry kick pigs in the face, stomp on chickens and turkeys, and smash piglets’ heads against concrete floors”… “will continue to support the constitutional right of whistleblowers and investigators to serve the public and animals by exposing the horrific cruelty that occurs behind the scenes in this industry.” SOURCE…
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