August 13, 2002

Judge Richard Cebull of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana will hear arguments Sept. 23 in a case focusing on the constitutionality of the beef checkoff program. The hearing will take place in the second Federal District Court, according to an order issued Aug. 6.

The judge directed that evidence presented at the trial focus on the issue of whether the program is "government speech" -- and thus exempt from the freedom of speech requirements of the First Amendment. The federal government argues that it is. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argue that it is not.

Cebull gave the parties the choice of forgoing the trial and letting him decide the issue on the record developed in this case so far and the transcript of the recent case in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota involving the beef checkoff program where arguments were made on the issue of "government speech."

In the South Dakota case, U.S. District Court Judge Charles B. Kornmann ruled that the beef checkoff program is unconstitutional. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has agreed to review that decision. Another U.S. District Court -- the Western District of Michigan -- is reviewing the constitutionality of the pork checkoff program. The issue of "government speech" is likely to be pivotal in that case as well.