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Monday, March 29, 2004

Law - "Got beef?"

Following on the heels of our Indiana Law Blog February entry titled "'Got Milk?' goes the way of 'Got Pork?' and 'Got Mushroom?'" is this AP story today on the beef checkoff program. The lead:

BILLINGS - Nearly seven years after Steve and Jeanne Charter first refused to pay a $1-per-head fee on cattle they sold, a federal appeals court is set this week to hear the Montana ranchers' challenge to the national beef checkoff. Oral arguments are set for Wednesday in Seattle before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Some background on other cases is included in the story:
The Charters' case is among a number of challenges to different checkoff programs. In 2002, a federal judge in South Dakota declared unconstitutional the same beef checkoff, saying the mandatory program infringes on the First Amendment rights of cattle producers. That decision was later affirmed by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Attorneys in the Charter case said the U.S. Supreme Court will likely decide in the next few months whether to review the 8th Circuit decision.

In 2002, a federal judge in Michigan declared a pork-checkoff program "unconstitutional and rotten." The U.S. Supreme Court in 2001 voided a checkoff program for mushrooms as unconstitutional. But the high court has upheld a program for fruit trees.

See also this comprehensive Nov. 1, 2003 ILB entry.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 29, 2004 01:15 PM
Posted to General Law Related