A federal district judge upheld Iowa’s trespass law that protects farmers’ privacy and property rights. Three separate lawsuits were filed in the last seven years that challenged these important anti-trespass laws, reports Iowa attorney general Brenna Bird’s office.
Two of the three laws were previously upheld. This decision dismissed the challenge to the third Iowa law.
“Farmers should be able to farm without fear of trespassers,” Bird says. “That is why Iowa passed important laws to prevent trespassers from lying to get onto a property and hurt it, planting secret recording devices, or filming on the property they trespassed onto. I fought to defend those laws that strengthen security for farmers and property owners. We won and protected farmers. Farmers, we have your back.”
The ruling came in response to a question that was put to the federal district court by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had previously upheld an Iowa statute that makes it a crime to “place” a camera while trespassing on a livestock facility, according to the National Agricultural Law Center. The Eighth Circuit sent back to the lower court the question of whether Iowa could also prohibit the “use” of a camera or recording device while trespassing on a livestock facility.
The court’s ultimate conclusion that the law is constitutional could have implications for similar laws in other states, the National Agricultural Law Center wrote.
Read the court’s decision here.
Your Next Read: Federal Court Upholds Iowa ‘Ag Gag’ Laws: A Win for the Country, Gov. Reynolds Says
