In 2019 U.S. Federal District Judge Thomas Schroeder dismissed legal filings challenging the North Carolina Property Protection Act of 2015.  Subsequently, a Federal appeals court reversed his decision ruling that animal welfare activist organizations had “a reasonable fear that the law would hinder their planned activities on behalf of animal welfare.”  This past week, Judge Schroeder ruled that provisions of the act did in fact deny free speech.

If North Carolina wishes to enact an ‘ag gag’ law, legislators will have to craft a bill that effectively prevents intrusion and video recording on farms and in processing plants without contravening the First Amendment rights of activist groups.