Good news at the federal court level today out of Idaho!
First, a federal judge has declared a state law forbidding the taking of hidden surveillance footage on agricultural land violative of the First Amendment - reopening the door for hidden camera footage of abuse to animals to be legally available in civil and criminal prosecution cases again!
Big news out of the federal courts in Idaho today: A federal judge has ruled unconstitutional Idaho’s “ag-gag” law, which outlawed surreptitious videotaping at agricultural operations, as a violation of the First Amendment. It’s the first court ruling on an “ag-gag” law; eight states have passed them. Idaho lawmakers acted after an animal rights group filmed cows being abused at a southern Idaho dairy.
And as an added joy from the same judge:
Also today, U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale ordered the state of Idaho to pay an additional quarter-million dollars in attorney fees and costs to the four couples who successfully sued to overturn Idaho’s ban on same-sex marriage. The couples’ attorneys had sought $304,206 in fees and costs on appeal; the state objected, and the court lowered the amount to $223,191. That’s on top of the $401,662 the state already had to pay the plaintiffs’ attorneys for the U.S. District Court portion of the case, before Idaho appealed it unsuccessfully to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, and the $55,000 the state spent on outside attorneys in the district court portion of the case hired by Gov. Butch Otter.
Full Story
All in all, a very BLUE day in as very RED state!