Protect The Harvest | Animal Rights Challenge to Iowa “Ag Gag Law” Fails in Eighth Circuit

On January 8, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit rejected a constitutional challenge brought by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and other groups to an Iowa statute that prohibits “agricultural facility fraud.” Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Reynolds, No. 22-1830 (8th Cir. Jan. 8, 2024). Statutes like this are often termed “ag gag laws” by their opponents. The district court had declared that the law violates the First Amendment, but the court of appeals reversed.

The law at issue, Iowa Code § 717A.3B(1)(a)-(b), was enacted in response to a prior law that the Eighth Circuit had determined had certain constitutional shortcomings. (We reported on that case here.) Under the revised statute, unlawful “agricultural facility fraud” arises in two instances. First, the trespass provision is violated when a person uses deception to gain access to an agricultural production facility “with the intent to cause physical or economic harm or other injury” to the facility’s operations, animals, crops, owner, personnel, equipment, buildings, premises, business interests or customers. Second, the employment provision is violated when a person uses deception to gain employment at such an agricultural production facility with intent to cause the same type of harm to the same type of victims or targets as the trespass provision.

From a farmer’s viewpoint,