‘ag gag’ law
NC Attorney General asks US Supreme Court to take up state’s ag-gag law
The State Attorney General’s Office has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of North Carolina’s ag-gag law, twice struck down by lower courts as unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds. Represented by Attorney General Josh Stein, the state argued that a Supreme Court decision is necessary to clarify the various courts’ legal interpretations, […]
Four years ago, a whistleblower and I broke NC’s ag-gag law. The environment and public health are better for it.
Now that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled North Carolina’s ag-gag law — as it applies to news-gathering — is unconstitutional, I can tell you that I violated it. To be clear, I did not trespass, but I checked several of the law’s boxes. Likewise, the worker who agreed to document and obtain […]
Federal court of appeals rules NC’s ag-gag law is unconstitutional, signals a win for whistleblowers
In a split decision the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court ruling that North Carolina’s “ag-gag law” is unconstitutional and infringes on free speech. The three-judge panel ruled 2-1: Justices Henry Floyd and Albert Diaz, both appointed by President Obama, wrote for the majority. Judge Allison Jones Rushing, an appointee of President […]
Attorney General Josh Stein’s office defends state’s “ag-gag law,” appeals previous ruling that it’s unconstitutional
North Carolina’s “ag-gag” law, which curbs watchdogs’ ability to document wrongdoing in “non-public areas” of their places of employment, is again before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Last June, federal Chief Justice Thomas Schroeder of the Middle District Court of North Carolina issued his 73-page decision declaring the law unconstitutional because it violated the […]
“Ag-gag” goes to court
A law designed to discourage workplace whistleblower activity in North Carolina, signed into law last session over a veto by Gov. Pat McCrory, has landed in federal court in Greensboro with the filing today of a lawsuit by a collection of groups alleging violations of freedom of speech and freedom of the press protections set […]