A federal court declared an “ag-gag” law in North Carolina unconstitutional and barred the state government from enforcing key parts of the law against journalists or whistleblowers.

A federal court in Iowa ruled the state’s corporate-backed “ag-gag” law, which targets journalists and activists, is unconstitutional.

In a decision upholding the First Amendment, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled key parts of an Idaho “ag-gag” law are unconstitutional.

Agribusiness and their lobbyists continue to convince legislatures to pass bills criminalizing whistleblowers, who expose animal cruelty or malfeasance.

An Idaho law enacted to permit the state to jail anyone, who conducts undercover investigations and secretly records animal abuse, was rejected as unconstitutional by a federal judge. The decision marked the first time a federal court had struck down a state’s “ag-gag law.”