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Victory for Animals and Free Speech as U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Review Kansas Ag-Gag Law

In a major victory for animals, workers, and transparency in the animal agriculture industry, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit that struck down Kansas’s “Ag-Gag” law for violating the First Amendment. The decision follows a lawsuit filed in 2018 by an Animal Legal Defense Fund-led coalition of animal, environmental, and food safety advocacy groups challenging the law’s constitutionality. Read More

The Pig Site: Appeals court finds Kansas ag-gag law unconstitutional

Coalition of animal welfare and worker safety groups welcome the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that strikes down Kansas's "ag-gag" law on free speech grounds. Read More

Appeals Court Affirms Kansas Ag-Gag Law is Unconstitutional

Today the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed a ruling by a lower court striking down Kansas’s “Ag-Gag” law for violating the First Amendment. The lawsuit was filed in 2018 by a coalition of animal, environmental, and food safety advocacy groups challenging the law’s constitutionality. Read More

Public Justice and Allies Secure Win in Arkansas Ag-Gag Law

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, August 10th, 2021 Media contact: Lucy Sears, lsears@publicjustice.net Public Justice and Allies Secure Win in Arkansas Ag-Gag Law On Monday, August 9, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis, released its opinion on its ruling... Read More

Reuters: 8th Circuit revives challenge to Arkansas ag-gag law

A divided federal appeals court on Monday reinstated a First Amendment challenge by several advocacy organizations against Arkansas’ 2017 “ag-gag” law, which authorizes farms and other businesses to sue for as much as $5,000 per day if an undercover investigator surreptitiously records operations and shares... Read More

Arkansas Ag-Gag

Arkansas’ Ag-Gag statute is modeled after the North Carolina statute, but it makes a few tweaks to try to protect it from being overturned as unconstitutional. The Arkansas Ag-Gag law provides an employer liquidated damages against any person who “exceeds the[ir] authority” in a “nonpublic... Read More

After Sponsoring Arkansas’s Ag-Gag Law, Rep. DeAnn Vaught Refuses to Defend its Constitutionality

The Arkansas state representative and factory farm owner who sponsored the state’s Ag-Gag law stated in a court filing on Friday that she waives her right and the right of her industrial hog farm, Prayer Creek Farm, to ever bring a legal action under that law against the plaintiffs. Read More

Associated Press: Appeals court revives challenge to Arkansas ‘ag-gag’ lawsuit

A federal appeals court revived a legal challenge Monday to an Arkansas law that farm organizations have used to shield themselves from undercover investigations by animal rights groups. Read More

US News: Lawsuit Calls Arkansas ‘Ag-Gag’ Law Unconstitutional

A legal advocacy organization has filed a lawsuit in federal court against two Arkansas agricultural businesses claiming a state law protecting the businesses from undercover investigations is unconstitutional. Read More

Court Strikes Down Iowa Recording Ban Ag-Gag Law

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa ruled Iowa’s latest Ag-Gag law is unconstitutional, holding that the law — which created a new crime of trespassing to engage in video and audio recording — violates the First Amendment. The law gagged free speech by criminalizing undercover investigations at animal facilities, deterring the exposure of animal cruelty, unsafe working conditions, and food safety threats in such facilities. Read More