The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued opinions on two "ag gag" laws, one out of Arkansas and the other from Iowa.
Ag gag laws attempt to keep whistleblowers and animal activists from having access to the inner workings of agricultural processing facilities. Those would include slaughterhouses and concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs.
The Arkansas law threatens civil sanctions for whistleblowers and investigators. The appeals court found that law to be unconstitutional, in that it stifles free speech.
But the court upheld most of an Iowa law threatening criminal sanctions for people who misrepresent their role to gain access to the facility. Victoria Wicks reports on these opinions for SDPB.
