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9th Circuit Court affirms lower court ruling in Beef Checkoff case

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the district court ruling in favor of the Beef Checkoff.  R-CALF USA originally challenged certain mandatory assessments on cattle sales imposed by federal law that are used to fund advertisements for beef products. 

In 2020, a federal court ruled that the qualified state beef checkoff (QSBC) programs operating under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the UDSA do not violate the First Amendment and dismissed the lawsuit brought by R-CALF.

The agreements with qualified state beef councils, include Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. 

R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard says while they are disappointed in the final outcome, their case did force the reform of the National Beef Checkoff Program.  “These reforms are significant,” he says.  “They corrected a long-standing violation, a violation of first amendment rights of cattle producers.  That, we can be thankful for, that we at least made that positive step on the behalf of cattle producers.” He says the case established that the Beef Checkoff operated for decades in violation of the Constitution and the Secretary of Agriculture took steps to correct the violation by asserting more governmental controls over the speech of the various state beef checkoff councils through the recently executed Memorandum of Understandings.  Bullard says they were unable to get any traction for their argument that the MOUs were insufficient at the Ninth Circuit, but they do have another case pending in front of the district court in Washington, DC alleging that the USDA did not follow the law when it executed the MOUs.    

Brownfield has also requested comment from the USDA and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.  

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