US Supreme Court turns away appeal in PETA undercover recording case

Source: Reuters

US Supreme Court turns away appeal in PETA undercover recording case

By Andrew Chung
October 16, 2023 10:54 AM EDT Updated an hour ago

Oct 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear North Carolina's defense of a state law aimed at preventing hidden-camera investigations from damaging farms and other businesses in a challenge brought by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and other animal rights groups.

The justices turned away appeals by North Carolina's Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein and a trade association representing North Carolina farmers of a lower court's ruling that the 2015 law violates the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment right to free speech when enforced against "newsgathering activities."

PETA has said it conducts undercover investigations to expose the abuse of animals in laboratories, farms and slaughterhouses, the pet trade, clothing industry and other areas. The organization has said it had wanted to conduct an undercover investigation of animal testing labs at the University of North Carolina but feared the state law's threat of monetary damages.

PETA, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and several other organizations sued in 2016 in federal court to block the law's enforcement, saying it punishes the free speech of whistleblowers.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-supreme-court-turns-away-appeal-peta-undercover-recording-case-2023-10-16/

Alternate non-paywalled link: https://news.yahoo.com/us-supreme-court-turns-away-134713774.html

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Related: North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation, Inc. v. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Inc. (SCOTUSblog)