Lower Court Holding
Decision of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
Appellants first argue that Appellees’ First Amendment claim is barred because the advertising conducted pursuant to the Beef Act is government speech and therefore immune from First Amendment scrutiny. The Supreme Court has never specifically addressed this government speech argument in a case involving an agricultural check-off program. In United States v. United Foods (2001), it was undisputed that the government speech argument had not been asserted or addressed in the court below. Therefore, the Supreme Court declined to consider whether or not the Mushroom Act was immune from First Amendment scrutiny on that basis. Appellants describe the government speech…
