Idaho’s new “ag-gag” law is unconstitutional, U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled on Monday. A spokesman for Idaho’s attorney general said the state has not decided if it will appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. Idaho’s is the first “ag-gag” statute to be struck down by a federal court. Seven other states have adopted similar statutes in the past few years. Winmill took 97 days to write his 28-page decision after hearing oral arguments in the case last April 28. He had signaled his belief that the case had merit the previous September when he ruled against Idaho’s motion to dismiss the case brought by the Animal Legal Defense fund. Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter signed the “ag-gag” law after it quickly passed through the state Legislature in 2014. The legislative action came after the Los Angeles-based animal rights group known as Mercy for Animals produced an undercover video of the Dry Creek Dairy in Hansen, ID. The video showed workers at the facility, associated with Bettencourt Dairies, abusing milk cows in multiple ways.
(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)