Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF) plans to appeal the recent U.S. District Court of Montana ruling that said the Beef Checkoff does not violate the First Amendment.
The group alleges the ruling did find that the USDA had been operating the checkoff in a manner that violated free speech before the lawsuit was filed.
The appeal will be sent to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
“This remains one of our principal concerns. The state beef councils are funneling millions of mandatory checkoff dollars to the lobbying organization the NCBA to purchase board seats in the NCBA’s federation division of its organization,” said R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard.
