Beef checkoff, state councils secure major court victory

摘要

THE Beef Checkoff Program and 15 grassroots state beef councils won a major court victory March 27 when the U.S. District Court of Montana ruled in favor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Montana Beef Council (MBC) in the matter of R-CALFvs. Sonny Perdue and USDA.In the suit, R-CALF USA alleged that the use of industry assessments collected by state beef councils for advertising and promotional materials violated the First Amendment rights of beef producers. The court found that speech by MBC, operating under the memorandum of understanding with USDA, is government speech.