A federal circuit court on Thursday dismissed a first amendment challenge to an Iowa law that criminalizes recording while trespassing on private property, finding that landowners who eject intruders using their property rights also exercise a “lesser right” to stop them from unlawfully recording.
In a ruling, three judges on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a challenge to Iowa’s Code 727.8A that was brought by Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement.
The case revolved around whether the state can punish activists for filming after being told to leave a public-facing property — even when the owner never objected to the recording itself. ICCI argued that doing so violates the first amendment, though the court left that claim as an “open question.”
"We need not resolve this question because even assuming recording while trespassing implicates the First Amendment, ICCI’s as-applied challenge fails,” Eighth Circuit Judge Steven Grasz wrote in the opinion.
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Instead, Grasz wrote that Iowa has a legitimate interest in protecting owners' property rights that would be served “less effectively without the statute” and that the law “does not proscribe substantially more speech than necessary to achieve Iowa’s legitimate ends.”
In a statement, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird called the decision a “definitive victory defending Iowa’s laws that prevent trespassers from lying to get onto a property and then secretly record on it."
“I’m grateful for this decision,” Bird said. "We have fought to defend our laws that strengthen security for farmers and property owners. This victory is much deserved by our Iowa farmers.”
