A federal judge has ruled Utah’s ban on secretly filming farm and slaughterhouse operations is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby said Utah failed to show the ban was intended to ensure the safety of animals and farm workers from disease or injury. Critics have called the ban an “ag-gag” law, that was enacted in 2012.
The challenge to the Utah ban was filed by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, PETA and the director of the Utah Animal Rights Coalition. It’s the second time a federal court has overturned a ban on filming at farms. In 2015, a district court judge ruled that Idaho’s ag gag law was also unconstitutional.
