Law professors oppose King amendment
December 06, 2013 | 06:00 PM
Fourteen professors from as many law schools around the country have written the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Agriculture committees that if the amendment on commerce written by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, in the House-passed bill were to become law, “there is a significant likelihood that many state agricultural laws across the country will be nullified, that public health and safety will be threatened, and that the amendment could ultimately be deemed unconstitutional.”
King wrote the amendment in reaction to a California law that would ban the sale of eggs from chickens housed in cages that do not meet the housing standards for California chickens, but has said it would apply to restrictions on farm product commerce in other states.
The first signature on the letter is Taimie Bryant, of the law school at the University of California at Los Angeles, but the other 13 professors teach at schools ranging from Northwestern and Harvard to Cornell and Valparaiso.
The Hagstrom Report obtained a copy of the seven-page letter citing the amendment’s impact on specific state laws.
It was sent today to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., House Agriculture ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Senate Agriculture ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss.
King wrote the amendment in reaction to a California law that would ban the sale of eggs from chickens housed in cages that do not meet the housing standards for California chickens, but has said it would apply to restrictions on farm product commerce in other states.
The first signature on the letter is Taimie Bryant, of the law school at the University of California at Los Angeles, but the other 13 professors teach at schools ranging from Northwestern and Harvard to Cornell and Valparaiso.
The Hagstrom Report obtained a copy of the seven-page letter citing the amendment’s impact on specific state laws.
It was sent today to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., House Agriculture ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Senate Agriculture ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss.
