Posted December 3, 2013
The United States Cattlemen’s Association (USCA),
defendant-intervenor in a lawsuit challenging the USDA’s Country of Origin
Labeling rule (COOL), announced it received notification that oral arguments in
the appeal of the denial of plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction are
scheduled for January 9, 2014, according to an article by Farm Futures
available here. The High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal and the
Oklahoma Farm Report also reported on the story here
and here.
The oral arguments will be heard by Chief Judge
Garland, Circuit Judge Srinivasan, and Senior Circuit Judge Williams of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The lawsuit, American
Meat Institute, et al. v. U.S. Department of Agriculture, was filed on July
8, 2013, alleging that the COOL final rule violates the First Amendment of the
U.S. Constitution, violates the Agricultural Marketing Act, and violates the
Administrative Procedure Act. The
complaint is available here. The District Court Judge denied the
plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction to stop implementation of the
final rule on September 11. The
memorandum opinion is available here.
Plaintiffs then appealed the denial of the preliminary
injunction and moved for an expedited hearing.
On October 29, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
denied plaintiffs motion for an expedited hearing.
The COOL final rule, available here,
became effective on May 23, 2013 and modified certain provisions of the COOL
regulations after the World Trade Organization (WTO) found that aspects of the
regulations violated U.S. trade obligations.
The final rule requires labels on certain cuts of meat to provide
information on where it was born, raised, and slaughtered.
For background information on the lawsuit and WTO
ruling, recent posts from this blog are available here
and here. For more information on COOL, please visit
the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
