Waterloo Times

The Animal Legal Defense Fund is among at least five local organizations filing suit against the state of Iowa challenging the legality of its recently passed Iowa Recording Ban law.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, the suit charges the so-called 'ag gag' is in violation of the First Amendment based on the way House File 775 seeks to penalize those who trespass for the purpose of engaging in video or audio recording.

“The Eighth Circuit panel agreed…that the provision makes it a crime to lie on a job application violates the First Amendment, but it said using false pretenses to access an agricultural facility is not protected by the First Amendment,” attorney Bruce E.H. Johnson posted on Twitter.

With the list of plaintiffs including the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement; People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals; Bailing Out Benji and Food & Water Watch, the suit further claims the new law criminalizes the tools of undercover journalism and investigations and is in violation of the First Amendment.

Just two years ago, a similar ag gag law was struck down by the courts after having first passed through the legislature back in 2012. That ruling is now before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. And again in 2019, a group of animal rights advocates sued and won a preliminary injunction barring the enforcement of a second such law while the case was still being litigated.

With penalties that include up to years in jail and a fine of up to $8,540 for first-time offenders, the new law is viewed by some as broader in focus than previously introduced. The latest states that any person who trespasses and “knowingly places or uses a camera or electronic surveillance device that transmits or records images or data while the device is on the trespassed property” is guilty of a crime.

Named as defendants in the case are Gov. Kim Reynolds, Attorney General Tom Miller, Cass County Attorney Vanessa Strazdas, Dallas County Attorney Chuck Sinnard and Washington County Attorney John Gish.

The groups challenging the law further contend it’s simply another attempt at thwarting investigations done in the public interest to shield those in the industry. They point out in all other instances, trespassing is a simple misdemeanor with a maximum fine of just $855 and a top allowable jail sentence of just 30 days.

“By passing yet another unconstitutional ag gag law, Iowa’s state legislature has put on full display its willingness to trample the Constitution in an attempt to hide from the public what really goes on at factory farms,” Tyler Lobdell, staff attorney at Food & Water Watch, said in a statement.

The state has yet to file a formal response to the suit.