Center Supports Beef Checkoff Lawsuit

In the release reproduced here, the Center for Individual Freedom expressed its ardent support for independent ranchers' battle against Beef Checkoff.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Eric Schippers

August 9, 2001 703-535-5836

LEGAL ATTACKS MOUNT IN BEEF CHECKOFF BATTLE

Cattleman Appeals Case Against Beef Checkoff to U.S. Supreme Court

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In yet another legal challenge to the constitutionality of the beleaguered mandatory beef promotion program, a petition was filed today at the U.S. Supreme Court by Kansas farmer and cattleman Jerry Goetz, with support from the Center for Individual Freedom.

The 16-page petition asks the Supreme Court to strike down a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decision against Mr. Goetz and remand the case back to that court to reconsider his constitutional claims against the Beef Checkoff program, in light of the June 25 Supreme Court decision in United States v. United Foods. In that case, the Court ruled that it violates the First Amendment for the government to compel mushroom producers to pay for industry advertising.

Mr. Goetz’s struggle against the government’s mandatory assessment began shortly after the program’s enactment in 1985. Believing the Checkoff program to be unconstitutional because it violates, among other things, his free speech and equal protection rights, Mr. Goetz refused to pay a portion of the fees and for seven years racked up fines and penalties on past due amounts. The USDA commenced administrative proceedings against Mr. Goetz in 1993. Goetz sued the government and, after a long and exhaustive administrative and judicial process, including a prior petition before the Supreme Court, was ultimately ordered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to pay past due assessments, late fees and penalties.

David Klaassen, a Marquette, Kansas, attorney and lead counsel on Goetz’s prior administrative and judicial challenges, said: "This petition represents the last leg of a protracted legal battle, in which our client is facing more than $130,000 in assessments, late fees and civil penalties. Mr. Goetz has consistently and doggedly challenged the constitutionality of the Beef Checkoff program and, in light of the United Foods decision, is eager to have justice served in this case."

"In Mr. Goetz’s earlier briefs he made precisely the same First Amendment arguments that were relied upon by the Supreme Court in United Foods, but

the USDA and the courts in the Tenth Circuit rejected those arguments," said Goetz’s Supreme Court counsel Erik Jaffe, a Washington, D.C. appellate attorney and former clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court. "Those unsuccessful challenges, however, formed a key role in creating the circuit court split that led to the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the United Foods case. The Supreme

Court’s subsequent decision in United Foods sided with the Sixth Circuit in that circuit split and effectively vindicated Mr. Goetz’s position."

This latest court challenge to the Beef Checkoff program follows legal action on Tuesday by the Charter family of Montana and the Center for Individual Freedom. In Charter v. USDA, attorneys for the cattle producing couple filed briefs asking a U.S. District Court in Billings, Montana, to freeze all existing beef checkoff assets and establish an escrow account for those assets and for future checkoff payments pending the outcome of the case. In addition, the suit seeks

a refund of past compelled payments should the program be declared unconstitutional. Mr. Kelly Varnes of Billings, Montana, Mr. Jaffe and Ms. Renee Giachino, General Counsel for the Center for Individual Freedom, are representing the Charters in that case.

Eric Schippers, Executive Director of the Center for Individual Freedom, said: "We’re honored to be working with people like Jerry Goetz and the Charter family, who’ve had the courage and the perseverance, for all these years, to stand up for their convictions and oppose this unconstitutional assessment on their cattle.

"With these latest legal actions in Montana and in the Supreme Court, we’re seeking to circle the wagons against what has been a long-term siege upon the First Amendment rights of cattlemen. These lawsuits are the inevitable consequences of the Supreme Court’s United Foods decision and should give pause to those, like the NCBA, trying to force other people to pay for speech with which they disagree. We hope the government will see the writing on the wall, accept the implications of the Supreme Court’s determination in United Foods, and spare these hard working ranch families any additional hardship from what’s already been a long, grueling fight," said Schippers.

The Beef Checkoff program — which claims to raise more than $80 million annually — is paid for by an assessment on beef producers of $1 per head of cattle sold. The program, enacted by Congress, has become increasingly controversial as independent ranchers have challenged the large waste of money, diversion of funds for inappropriate purposes and advertising that benefits giant corporate packing houses and retailers at the expense of independent producers.

Those wishing to contribute to a legal fund established by the Center for Individual Freedom to challenge the Beef Checkoff, may call Eric Schippers at 703-535-5836. Court filings in these cases will be provided on request and also may be read online at the Center’s website: www.cfif.org

Founded in 1998, the Center for Individual Freedom is a non-partisan, non-profit organization with the mission to protect and defend individual freedoms and individual rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

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