Posted
January 19, 2016
North Carolina is one of seven states with enforceable
“ag-gag” laws that criminalize data collection from private property. Most of
the laws concern the agriculture industry, and attempt to keep employees or
outside groups from photographing or videotaping animal abuse at large farming
operations. Animal rights groups rely on these investigations to bring abuses
to light. Published videos can lead to charges against the abusers and
encourage policy changes. In 2008, for example, undercover video exposed the
issue of “downer” cows, which can’t stand on their own but, at that time, were
still being used for beef. That video led to the largest meat recall in U.S.
history.
The North Carolina state law, which went into effect
January 1, makes undercover videos punishable by law. The Property Protection
Act became law after legislators voted to override the governor's veto of the
bill.
According to the complaint filed January 13, the law's
purpose is to punish those “who set out to investigate employers and property
owners' conduct because they believe there is value in exposing employers and
property owners' unethical or illegal behavior to the disinfecting sunlight of
public scrutiny.”
The plaintiffs, including People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, Center for Food Safety, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Farm
Sanctuary, Food & Water Watch and Government Accountability Project,
believe North Carolina's law violates the Equal Protection Clause and their
rights to free speech and to a free press.
The legal challenge is the first in the nation to make
claims under both the U.S. Constitution and a state constitution. Last year, a
federal court overturned Idaho's ag-gag law contending it violated the First
and 14th amendments. Last December, a federal judge ruled that a challenge to
Wyoming's law must go forward, citing “serious concerns” about the law's
constitutionality.
More information on the lawsuit is available here.
(Photo courtesy Dirk Phillip, U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture)
(Photo courtesy Dirk Phillip, U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture)
