LEGAL/REGULATORY NEWS
Huge crowds expected for Canadian border appeal
by Pete Hisey on 7/13/2005 for Meatingplace.com
USDA's appeal of the temporary injunction against importation of live cattle from Canada will be heard today in Seattle by a three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco.
Both USDA and Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America have submitted extensive briefs to the panel and will make oral arguments. A large coterie of industry associations and processors has filed friend-of-the-court briefs as well.
An overflow room has been set up for interested parties, primarily agriculture media, and both television and still cameras will be allowed in the courtroom. The court is unlikely to rule today, and if the hearing in two weeks in Billings, Mont., in front of the judge who originally granted the temporary injunction, Richard Cebull, is successful for USDA, any decision would be moot.
