Livestock Marketing Association (LMA), et al.
Respondents
Laurence H. Tribe, Counsel of RecordUnder the Beef Promotion and Research Act, cattle producers are required to pay a one-dollar-a-head assessment on livestock they sell in order to fund a generic advertising program promoting beef consumption. On December 29, 2000, the Livestock Marketing Association and eight individual cattlemen filed suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), challenging the constitutionality of the program and alleging that Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman refused to consider allowing individual producers to opt out of paying the fee. On June 21, 2002, a Federal district court ruled in favor of the cattlemen. The…
