The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit found that a challenge to North Carolina’s expansive “ag-gag” law can move ahead, overturning a prior decision of the federal district court. The challenge was brought by a coalition of animal advocacy and environmental groups.
North Carolina’s law, which went into effect in 2016, empowers employers to sue employees who collect video or photos at a workplace and then share it with the media. Critics say the law directly targets whistleblowers, particularly animal rights groups who have used undercover investigations to expose animal abuse and unsanitary conditions at meatpacking plants and large-scale farms. The law is broader than other states’ ag-gag laws in that it affects workers in non-agricultural industries.
The decision from the Court of Appeals means that the constitutional challenge to the ag-gag law can proceed. Plaintiffs in the challenge include People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the Center for Food Safety, and Food & Water Watch. The court found that the plaintiffs presented evidence of a “reasonable and well-founded fear” of proceeding with their undercover investigations as a result of the ag-gag law.
Ag-gag laws have been passed in ten states and are generally supported by the agriculture industry and trade associations, as well as state Farm Bureaus and state Stock Growers Associations. Many states’ ag-gag laws have been challenged in the courts. In 2017, a federal judge struck down Utah’s ag-gag law. In January, an appeals court struck down Idaho’s ag-gag law.