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Iowa appeals ag-gag law that a federal judge ruled unconstitutional

 Iowa is appealing a federal court ruling that says the state's ag-gag law is unconstitutional, based on free-speech violations.Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller filed a motion Wednesday to send the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Miller and Gov. Kim Reynolds, among others, were named in the lawsuit.Miller also asked the court to stay its decision to permanently stop Iowa from enforcing the law.The 2012 statute makes it a crime for journalists and advocacy groups to go undercover at meatpacking plants, livestock confinements and other ag operations to investigate working conditions, animal welfare, food safety and environmental hazards.Lawmakers who supported the legislation said they wanted to stop "subversive acts" by "groups that go out and gin up campaigns … to give the agricultural industry a bad name."

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Des Moines Register