Idaho squares off with animal rights group before 9th Circuit

Oral arguments are expected to be scheduled in April in Seattle in an “ag-gag” appeal that has pitted Idaho officials against the Animal Legal Defense Fund in a constitutional battle. The case, Animal Legal Defense Fund et al v. Idaho Attorney General Lawrence G. Wasden, landed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill tossed Idaho’s “ag-gag” statute. Winmill, appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton, struck down the statue on constitutional grounds. Wasden filed the appeal on behalf of the Idaho with 9th Circuit which is headquartered in San Francisco. The case is one of four state laws involving agricultural trespass that are being challenged in federal courts by animal activists’ groups. Idaho’s Chief of Civil Litigation, Steven L. Olsen, contends that the many ALDF and numerous amici curiae “argue vigorously about what the law should be, not what it is.”“The First Amendment does not displace the state’s authority to protect the right of landowners to limit access to the property,” Olsen argues. “Gaining access through misrepresentation infringes on that right. Neither journalists or special interest advocates have any constitutional dispensation from this rule, e.g. no First Amendment exception of ‘high value lies.’ ”