Idaho's ban on undercover animal abuse videos struck down by federal judge

[Socialist]

A federal judge struck down Idaho's ban on undercover videos at factory farms Monday, saying state legislators wrongly criminalized free speech to protect powerful agricultural groups.

Animal rights advocates called the ruling the first such defeat for a so-called ag-gag law in the U.S. The laws have gained popularity in some states as activists continue to publish undercover videos showing animal abuse at facilities around the country.

The remedy for misleading speech, or speech we do not like, is more speech, not enforced silence.- U.S. Chief Judge B. Lynn Winmill of the District of Idaho
U.S. Chief Judge B. Lynn Winmill of the District of Idaho swept away the state's ban on the grounds that the law violated the 1st Amendment and selectively targeted activists or journalists who might be critical of factory farm practices.

"The effect of the statute will be to suppress speech by undercover investigators and whistleblowers concerning topics of great public importance: the safety of the public food supply, the safety of agricultural workers, the treatment and health of farm animals, and the impact of business activities on the environment," Winmill wrote in a summary judgment.

The judge said that "the facts show the state's purpose in enacting the statute was to protect industrial animal agriculture by silencing its critics."

Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter signed the ban into law in February 2014 after a Los Angeles-based animal rights group, Mercy for Animals, released undercover video that showed dairy workers at one Idaho farm beating and abusing cows.

One clip showed workers at Bettencourt Dairies' Dry Creek Dairy in Hansen, Idaho, dragging a cow with a tractor after attaching a chain to her neck.

Although the video resulted in criminal charges against some of the workers, many Idaho lawmakers appeared more piqued by the animal rights activists who produced the highly edited footage.


FOR THE RECORD

Lawmakers likened it to propaganda or worse. One lawmaker called the undercover videos "farm terrorism" intended to damage the agricultural industry. Another compared activists to ancient invaders who destroyed crops to starve enemies into submission.

Idaho's law made it a misdemeanor -- punishable by up to a year in prison, plus potentially steep damages -- to make secret recordings or misrepresent one's identity to gain entrance to an agricultural facility.

After the law was passed, a broad coalition of animal rights activists, journalists and civil liberties advocates sued Idaho in federal court. Plaintiffs included the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho and left-wing news magazine CounterPunch.

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Aug. 4, 8:42 a.m.: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Mercy for Animals is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

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Judge Winmill noted that the law would have criminalized the undercover journalism that Upton Sinclair performed in order to write his shocking 1906 novel on the meatpacking industry, "The Jungle," which led to industry reforms.

"As the story of Upton Sinclair illustrates, an agricultural facility's operations that affect food and worker safety are not exclusively a private matter. Food and worker safety are matters of public concern," Winmill wrote. "Moreover, laws against trespass, fraud, theft and defamation already exist."

Winmill said that if farm owners were concerned about highly edited activist videos, they could mount their own public relations campaigns.

"The remedy for misleading speech, or speech we do not like, is more speech, not enforced silence," Winmill wrote.

Mercy for Animals hailed the ruling, saying it was looking forward to producing more undercover videos in Idaho.

"Idaho’s lawmakers should be ashamed of wasting precious time and valuable resources enacting unconstitutional laws that threaten animal welfare, food safety, workers’ rights and the environment," Nathan Runkle, president of Mercy for Animals, said in a statement.

This is fantastic news.
Idaho apos s ban on undercover animal abuse videos struck down by federal judge - LA Times

 

[ScienceRocks]

Great news! If conservatives think that a person has the right to torture a animal. Well, maybe they're evil.

 

[Obiwan]

Great news! If conservatives think that a person has the right to torture a animal. Well, maybe they're evil.

Got it.... Animals have rights, kids don't.

 

[Socialist]

Great news! If conservatives think that a person has the right to torture a animal. Well, maybe they're evil.

Got it.... Animals have rights, kids don't.

As expected, one of the resident right wingers comes flying in trying to compare fetuses to intelligent, emotional, sentient animals.

 

[mamooth]

The law, like all ag-gag laws, was obviously a huge flaming first amendment violation.

Hence, most conservatives adore such laws.

This is just a start. All ag-gag laws need to be struck down.

 

[SassyIrishLass]

The law, like all ag-gag laws, was obviously a huge flaming first amendment violation.

Hence, most conservatives adore such laws.

This is just a start. All ag-gag laws need to be struck down.

So you oppose the judge and his order on the Planned Parenthood videos? You can't have it both ways

 

[Wake]

I think the law against those looking to expose animal cruelty is crap, and I'm pleased it was struck down.

Some animals are intelligent and do have emotions: on the matter of sentience, it's a topic I haven't frequented nearly enough to talk about with certainty. Unborn human babies are precious, living things that should have the precious right to live to see the light, the world, and all its promise. As for those trying to cover this mistreatment of animals, I want to know exactly which people are behind this now-defunct law.

 

[Wake]

Sassy does make a valid point...

 

[Manonthestreet]

Great news! If conservatives think that a person has the right to torture a animal. Well, maybe they're evil.

We know they're all altered and out of context...... riiiighhhtttttt

 

[mamooth]

Sassy does make a valid point...

Nah. Apples and oranges. One is about wiretapping laws, while ag-gag is about forbidding free speech solely based on subject matter. The latter is a clear first amendment violation. Wiretapping laws, no. If anyone makes a law against reciting pro-life positions, that would be equivalent to ag-gag laws.

 

[skye]

Great news! If conservatives think that a person has the right to torture a animal. Well, maybe they're evil.

It is great news....and

I am a conservative... and I know that as a conservative I am not alone defending innocent creatures.

that's all

 

[IsaacNewton]

Wait, you mean Idaho legislators and governor actually passed a bill banning undercover videos at farms of animals? WTF!!

What was it called, the You Are Free To Torture Animals bill?

Careful, you are treading on dick cheney's territory now.

 

[tyroneweaver]

Wait, you mean Idaho legislators and governor actually passed a bill banning undercover videos at farms of animals? WTF!!

What was it called, the You Are Free To Torture Animals bill?

Careful, you are treading on dick cheney's territory now.

sometimes herding cattle is like herding cats

 

[IsaacNewton]

Wait, you mean Idaho legislators and governor actually passed a bill banning undercover videos at farms of animals? WTF!!

What was it called, the You Are Free To Torture Animals bill?

Careful, you are treading on dick cheney's territory now.

sometimes herding cattle is like herding cats

If they were herding cats I'm thinking the legislature there would make it legal to use a pitchfork, or at least keep anyone from filming someone using a pitchfork.

 

[Obiwan]

Wait, you mean Idaho legislators and governor actually passed a bill banning undercover videos at farms of animals? WTF!!

What was it called, the You Are Free To Torture Animals bill?

Careful, you are treading on dick cheney's territory now.

sometimes herding cattle is like herding cats

Which can be damn near as bad as talking common sense to Libs!!!!

 

[tyroneweaver]

Wait, you mean Idaho legislators and governor actually passed a bill banning undercover videos at farms of animals? WTF!!

What was it called, the You Are Free To Torture Animals bill?

Careful, you are treading on dick cheney's territory now.

sometimes herding cattle is like herding cats

If they were herding cats I'm thinking the legislature there would make it legal to use a pitchfork, or at least keep anyone from filming someone using a pitchfork.

Idaho is a farm state, a lot of the state legislature are in the farming game. A video went viral where a animal was being abused and the intent was filming videos without the farmers knowledge on private property

 

[tinydancer]

These videos are crucial evidence exposing cruelty to farm animals of epic proportions. Some days I'm glad I can't get videos to load because the stills I have witnessed have me bazooka barfing on their own.

I don't think I could handle video and sound. My husband and I both hunt and we have no problem with good clean kills whether its Bambi or Thumper and we do respect their lives in the way we handle them.

We are talking over the top vicious cruelty that these brave souls go undercover to expose. Oh boy, one at a dairy farm gave me freaking nightmares that people like that existed in life. And because of the work of the activists Land O'Lakes (Double checking right now) cancelled their contracts with this farming outfit. As they should have.

For those that don't understand what some of these great undercover animal activists are doing you really need to check into them. They're awesome.

Good call by this judge. Kudos.

 

[Obiwan]

These videos are crucial evidence exposing cruelty to farm animals of epic proportions. Some days I'm glad I can't get videos to load because the stills I have witnessed have me bazooka barfing on their own.

I don't think I could handle video and sound. My husband and I both hunt and we have no problem with good clean kills whether its Bambi or Thumper and we do respect their lives in the way we handle them.

We are talking over the top vicious cruelty that these brave souls go undercover to expose. Oh boy, one at a dairy farm gave me freaking nightmares that people like that existed in life. And because of the work of the activists Land O'Lakes cancelled their contracts with this farming outfit. As they should have.

For those that don't understand what some of these great undercover animal activists are doing you really need to check into them. They're awesome.

Good call by this judge. Kudos.

I agree. I just wonder why the Libs rate animals above kids.

 

[tinydancer]

These videos are crucial evidence exposing cruelty to farm animals of epic proportions. Some days I'm glad I can't get videos to load because the stills I have witnessed have me bazooka barfing on their own.

I don't think I could handle video and sound. My husband and I both hunt and we have no problem with good clean kills whether its Bambi or Thumper and we do respect their lives in the way we handle them.

We are talking over the top vicious cruelty that these brave souls go undercover to expose. Oh boy, one at a dairy farm gave me freaking nightmares that people like that existed in life. And because of the work of the activists Land O'Lakes cancelled their contracts with this farming outfit. As they should have.

For those that don't understand what some of these great undercover animal activists are doing you really need to check into them. They're awesome.

Good call by this judge. Kudos.

I agree. I just wonder why the Libs rate animals above kids.

*sigh*

I think we can safely say that to many libs "only some lives matter".

 

[IsaacNewton]

These videos are crucial evidence exposing cruelty to farm animals of epic proportions. Some days I'm glad I can't get videos to load because the stills I have witnessed have me bazooka barfing on their own.

I don't think I could handle video and sound. My husband and I both hunt and we have no problem with good clean kills whether its Bambi or Thumper and we do respect their lives in the way we handle them.

We are talking over the top vicious cruelty that these brave souls go undercover to expose. Oh boy, one at a dairy farm gave me freaking nightmares that people like that existed in life. And because of the work of the activists Land O'Lakes cancelled their contracts with this farming outfit. As they should have.

For those that don't understand what some of these great undercover animal activists are doing you really need to check into them. They're awesome.

Good call by this judge. Kudos.

I agree. I just wonder why the Libs rate animals above kids.

Stop pretending, you aren't a Christian and you don't have any moral ground.

You just like to tell yourself that 'cuz it makes ya feel good'.