CFIF Launches Federal Lawsuit Challenging the Constitutionality of West Virginia’s Election Law
CFIF filed its complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, alleging that several provisions of state law are vague and overbroad, and thus violate the First Amendment...[more]
Center For Individual Freedom Sues to Strike Down Pennsylvania Speech Restriction
The Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) last week filed a lawsuit to hold unconstitutional a Pennsylvania law that forbids independent issue ads during election periods...[more]
Free Speech Restored in Louisiana
After nearly two years of litigation, the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) won an important free-speech decision last week when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that Louisiana's campaign finance law does not restrict or regulate independent political issue advertising...[more]
The Privileged Press, May We All Enjoy the Freedom
America learned just how privileged the press is after the Federal Election Commission released one of its rulings last week...[more]
CFIF Urges Court to Overturn Louisiana Election Law
The Center for Individual Freedom filed a brief Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, urging the court to strike down a Louisiana campaign finance law that regulates independent political speech...[more]
Report Finds ‘Clear Conflict of Interest’ in CBS-Kerry Campaign Contacts
The news was all bad this week for CBS when an independent panel led by former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and former Associated Press President Louis Boccardi issued its report about how "60 Minutes" erred so badly in airing a segment attacking President Bush based on memos that were apparently forged...[more]
CFIF Challenges Louisiana Campaign Finance LawsThe Center for Individual Freedom this week asked a federal district court in Louisiana to strike down the state’s campaign finance laws as an unconstitutional restriction on the rights of free speech and free association...[more]
CFIF Files FEC Complaint Against CBS, Kerry CampaignThe Center for Individual Freedom today filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission charging that CBS and Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc., illegally coordinated election communications. The complaint charges that CBS and the Kerry campaign violated federal campaign finance laws when they colluded to attack President Bush based on claims and documents now believed to be fake...[more]
Beef: It’s What’s in Our CourtsBeef, it’s not just "what’s for dinner" these days. Beef is the main entrée in courtrooms throughout the country, from the highest in the land to the rogue Ninth Circuit. The Center for Individual Freedom received notice this week that oral arguments have been scheduled before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Charter, et al. v. USDA, et al., a case challenging the constitutionality of the beef checkoff program...[more]
The Second Monday in September
It won’t be a quiet recess day at the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday. Instead, this year on September 8th, the halls will be bustling with attorneys, reporters, and interested Court watchers, and the justices will have already returned to our nation’s capital ready to emerge from behind the curtains for their first sitting this fall. Monday, if you don’t already know, is the day the Court will hear four full hours of arguments in the most important political speech case to be decided by the Court in more than a quarter century – namely the consolidated constitutional challenges to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), popularly known as McCain-Feingold...[more]
McCain-Feingold Challengers File Opening Briefs in Supreme Court
The first shots in the High Court battle over the constitutionality of the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002 were fired Tuesday when attorneys for Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Center for Individual Freedom and the other plaintiffs challenging the law filed their opening briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court...[more]
Center's Beef with Beef Continues:
Reply Brief Filed in Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Finishing out the briefing schedule, the Center filed a reply brief before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Charter, et al. v. USDA, et al., a case challenging the constitutionality of the beef checkoff program. On behalf of the Charters and hundreds of other independent cattle ranchers, the Center's brief argues that the per-head charge on cattle to pay for promoting beef consumption, known as the checkoff program, violates the First Amendment rights of the Charters and others who oppose being forced to support speech that is directly contrary to their views and interests...[more]
Ranchers File Brief in 9th Circuit Beef Checkoff Appeal
On April 3, attorneys for Montana cattle ranchers Jeanne and Steve Charter, in conjunction with more than 100 independent beef producers and the Center for Individual Freedom, filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in the ongoing lawsuit over the constitutionality of the mandatory beef promotion program, responsible for messages such as: "Beef. It's what's for dinner."...[more]
Federal Judge Rules Beef Checkoff is 'Government Speech'
Abandoning the notion that the beef checkoff is a "self-help" program, the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) have temporarily staved off one of a number of challenges to the beef checkoff by persuading a federal court that the program is, in fact, "government speech."...[more]
Student Continues to Suffer
As School Board Reconsiders Zero Tolerance Policy
This week, the Escambia County School Board agreed to reconsider its zero tolerance policy in the wake of public and media outcry against its current zero "common sense" policy. The imposition of the zero tolerance policy became a national embarrassment to the Escambia County School District this fall when expulsion from Pensacola High School was recommended for honor student Teresa Elenz after she found a bag of pills on campus. (To read more about Ms. Elenz’s case, click here)...[more]
Teresa Elenz Returned to School: Zero Tolerance Railroad Job Derailed
On Friday, September 27, an independent hearing officer appointed by the Escambia County, Florida District School Board drafted an order for Teresa Elenz to return to Pensacola High School. Pending a meeting of the school board to finalize the order, Teresa was allowed to return to school on Monday, September 30...[more]
Zero Tolerance in Pensacola: Inquisition in a Cesspool
The new school year has barely begun, yet the zero tolerance torquemados are already hard at their unforgiving task, punishing the innocent in mindless obeisance to institutionalized dereliction of duty...[more]
Final Brief Filed in Beef Checkoff Case; Hearing Scheduled
On April 2, 2002, attorneys for independent ranchers Jeanne and Steve Charter in conjunction with the Center for Individual Freedom, filed the final brief before oral arguments begin in the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the mandatory beef promotion program. A hearing on the case is scheduled for April 16, 2002, before Judge Cebull of the U.S. District Court in Billings, Montana.
The legal brief reiterates the argument that the mandatory checkoff program should be struck down because it violates the First Amendment rights of independent ranchers by forcing them to contribute to speech with which they disagree. The lawsuit was filed following a June 25, 2001, ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. United Foods in which the Court ruled the mandatory mushroom program is unconstitutional.
To download the brief, please click here.
Dairy Farmers and Center for Individual Freedom File Suit Against Dairy Checkoff
A family of dairy farmers, in conjunction with the Center for Individual Freedom (CIF), filed on April 2, 2002 a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the mandatory dairy promotion program.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on behalf of Joe and Brenda Cochran, seeks to enjoin the USDA and the Dairy Promotion Board from collecting dairy checkoff assessments, or using existing checkoff funds without prior consent of those assessed, pending a declaratory judgment in the case. In addition, the suit asks the court to prohibit defendants from using dairy checkoff funds in defense of this claim...[more]
To download the legal complaint as a word document, please click here.
Center Files Motion for Summary Judgment in Beef Checkoff Case
Attorneys for Jeanne and Steve Charter in Montana and the Center for Individual Freedom, on March 1, 2002, filed a Motion for Summary Judgment in the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the mandatory beef promotion program...[more]
To read the brief, please click here.
Dairy Farmers and Center for Individual Freedom Mount Legal Challenge to Dairy Checkoff
A family of dairy farmers, working in conjunction with the Center for Individual Freedom (CIF), today announced that it has engaged a prominent agricultural attorney to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the USDA’s mandatory dairy promotion program....[more]
The US Supreme Court last week denied the petition for a writ of certiorari from Kansas farmer and cattleman Jerry Goetz, who raised a First Amendment challenge to the Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985, which established the national Beef Checkoff program...[more]
The Center for Individual Freedom (CIF) on September 24, 2001, announced the launch of an advertising campaign aimed at enlisting the support of US dairy producers in the battle over the nation’s commodity checkoff programs...[more]
CIF Launches Radio Ads in Support of Dairy Checkoff Battle
The Center for Individual Freedom (CIF) announced the launch of a radio advertising campaign aimed at enlisting the support of US dairy producers in the battle over the nation's mandatory advertising programs.
Running on radio stations across major dairy states, the 60-second radio spot is an appeal by CIF Executive Director, Eric Schippers, to dairy producers to "join us in our efforts to stop these mandatory assessments. For us, it’s about protecting the Constitution, for you it’s about protecting your livelihood."
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found the mushroom checkoff program is unconstitutional, CIF is seeking to form a united front of dairy farmers, beef producers, pork producers, tree fruit farmers and others to put an end to the nation's checkoff programs.
To hear the radio ad, click here.
The radio ad follows CIF's dairy print ad campaign, entitled: "Got Milked?" which ran in newspapers in major dairy markets. For more on CIF's dairy campaign, click here.
In a motion filed in Federal District Court in Billings, Montana on September 14, 2001, 130 independent cattle producers and nine organizations joined Montana ranchers Steve and Jeanne Charter and the Center for Individual Freedom in the legal battle over the Beef Checkoff Program. The coalition of cattlemen and agriculture groups, in requesting permission to intervene on the Charter’s behalf, declared the Checkoff "unfair, undemocratic, and unconstitutional."...[more]
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...[more]
Ranchers and Center for Individual Freedom
Join Forces in Beef Checkoff Lawsuit
An independent cattle producing family in Montana and the Center for Individual Freedom (CIF) on August 7th filed briefs in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the mandatory beef promotion program...[more]