Ag-gag laws face challenge

Animals are protected by federal laws like the Animal Welfare Act of 1966 and Horse Protection Act of 1970, and by state laws throughout this fine land. But in recent years, the right-wing civic arsonists of ALEC have tried to gut these laws by passing what are called ag-gag laws. Ag-gag laws criminalize whistleblowers who expose factory farms that abuse animals.

In addition to protecting criminal behavior at factory farms, ag-gag laws are unambiguously unconstitutional: They infringe on whistleblowers' right to free speech.

But now Utah's ag-gag law is being challenged by the first 4 defendants to be charged under it. The group was charged last year for trying to document alleged abuses at a pig farm in Iron County. They didn't even set foot on the farm. All they did was photograph the farm from the public right-of-way.

Will the court overturn ag-gag laws? The First Amendment makes it clear that they must. But we live in an era where right-wing judges like to make up their own laws, so don't count on it.

(Source: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/01/07/utahs-ag-gag-law-may-have-found-first-legal-targets)