020726 Court Issues Stay on “Checkoff” Injunction

St. Louis, MO - A federal appeals court issued a stay of a lower court's order that would have halted collections of the national beef checkoff program next week, the Department of Agriculture said.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals action means the checkoff program can continue its collections and activities while the appeals court further considers last month's ruling by U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann of South Dakota.

In ruling the checkoff program unconstitutional, Kornmann on June 21 ordered the USDA to halt collections starting July 15. Wednesday's stay nullifies that cutoff date and gives the Justice Department -- on the USDA's behalf -- and intervening cattlemen's groups more time to challenge Kornmann's finding that the program violated First Amendment rights of cattle producers.

Messages left seeking comment from USDA officials were not immediately returned Wednesday evening, but a short memo on the court ruling was posted on its Web site.

"Now, collections under the checkoff will continue as they have before," said Greg Ruehle, executive vice president of the 5,000-member Nebraska Cattlemen's group, an intervener in the case. Wednesday's ruling, he said, "allows the industry to now focus its time and attention on appealing that First Amendment decision and not be sidetracked by whether the collections should continue."

On Monday, the government asked the 8th Circuit to grant the stay no later than Thursday, calling the deadline necessary to give it time to notify collectors whether they must comply with Kornmann's injunction.

The 8th Circuit did not immediately announce Wednesday when further hearings on the matter would take place, Ruehle said.

Since 1985, livestock producers have had to pay a mandatory $1-per-head fee on cattle sold in the United States. Half of that money from the checkoff, which yearly collects about $86 million, goes to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board and half to qualified state beef councils. The groups came up with the popular "Beef: It's what's for dinner" slogan.

Those opposed to the checkoff are upset that the advertisements promote beef in general and not American beef. In his ruling last month, Kornmann sided with three South Dakota ranchers, the Livestock Marketing Association and others who sued the USDA, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board, seeking to force a referendum on the checkoff program.

While Kornmann ruled that cattlemen should not be required to pay for commercials — a form of speech — that they are opposed to, the government argued that the nationwide injunction to halt collections was too broad.

The government also said cattle producers would suffer minimal harm if required to take part in the beef checkoff program while the appeal is ongoing.

In earlier cases, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a similar checkoff program for mushrooms was unconstitutional because it touted mushrooms in general. Producers argued some mushrooms are superior to others.

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com