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Supreme Court reviews constitutionality of beef checkoff
The U.S. Department of Justice represented the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Cattlemen's Beef Board on Dec. 8 as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case challenging the constitutionality of the national Beef Checkoff Program.
"We are confident that the checkoff is constitutional, and arguments made in the courtroom today only reinforced that confidence," said Beef Board Chairman Nelson Curry, who attended the hearing. "We're pleased that the Supreme Court agreed to hear our case and pleased that USDA and the U.S. Department of Justice have stood behind the Beef Checkoff Program throughout this litigation.
"Now we're in the final stretch of this case, and the decision rests in the hands of the justices of the Supreme Court," Curry continued. "That could come down anytime between now and the end of June. In the meantime, cattlemen can rest assured that the Beef Board will remain focused on investing their checkoff dollars into programs aimed at building demand for their product and, as a result, increasing their opportunities for profit."
Plaintiffs in the case are the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA), the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), and three individuals in an earlier petition. Their lawsuit calls for ending the checkoff program on the grounds that it violates some cattle producers' First Amendment rights by forcing them to pay for beef promotion messages with which they do not agree. Specifically, plaintiffs have complained that the checkoff promotes beef, in general, rather than just U.S. beef. Importers also pay the checkoff assessment.
In addition to USDA and the Cattlemen's Beef Board, defendants include the Nebraska Cattlemen, leading a group of producers as interveners in the case.
Congress created the Beef Checkoff Program via the 1985 farm bill as a tool to build demand for beef, noting that "the production of beef and beef products plays a significant role in the Nation's economy." In a 1988 referendum, 79 percent of the nation's cattle producers and importers voted in favor of making their $1-per-head checkoff contributions mandatory. Through the program, cattlemen pool their money to conduct promotion, research, education and information programs aimed at building demand for beef here and abroad and, as a result, increasing their opportunities for profit.
In July 2003, a panel of three judges at the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a June 2002 ruling by District Court Judge Charles Kornmann deeming the program unconstitutional.
At the same time this case was unfolding, however, U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull of Montana used the very same transcript in a similar case as Judge Kornmann used in the LMA suit and came up with a different ruling--declaring the checkoff constitutional. That case in the Ninth Circuit was brought by Montana ranchers Stephen and Jeanne Charter and has been appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has set aside its review until the Supreme Court rules in this case.
"It's been a long road to the Supreme Court," Beef Board Chief Operating Officer Monte Reese said after the hearing. "Throughout these years of litigation, however, the producer members of the Beef Board have remained focused on investing checkoff dollars into programs that they believe will be most efficient in building demand for beef. And, in fact, demand increased more than 16 percent between 1998 and 2003, after nearly 20 years of steady decline."
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