Big news out of federal court in Idaho today: Ag-gag law unconstitutional; state must pay $223K more in gay marriage case

Big news out of the federal courts in Idaho today: A federal judge has ruled unconstitutional Idaho’s “ag-gag” law, which outlawed surreptitious videotaping at agricultural operations, as a violation of the First Amendment. It’s the first court ruling on an “ag-gag” law; eight states have passed them. Idaho lawmakers acted after an animal rights group filmed cows being abused at a southern Idaho dairy.

You can read the full ruling here from U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill, and a full story here at spokesman.com.

Also today, U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale ordered the state of Idaho to pay an additional quarter-million dollars in attorney fees and costs to the four couples who successfully sued to overturn Idaho’s ban on same-sex marriage. The couples’ attorneys had sought $304,206 in fees and costs on appeal; the state objected, and the court lowered the amount to $223,191. That’s on top of the $401,662 the state already had to pay the plaintiffs’ attorneys for the U.S. District Court portion of the case, before Idaho appealed it unsuccessfully to the 9 ^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, and the $55,000 the state spent on outside attorneys in the district court portion of the case hired by Gov. Butch Otter. You can read the judge’s ruling here .