First Amendment Challenge Goes Soggy in Cereal Labeling Suit

Post Foods’ attempt to throw out consumer fraud claims as an unconstitutional regulation of commercial speech met a soggy end in a suit over high-sugar cereals.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California rebuffed the cereal maker’s “creative” attempt to rely on an opinion of a federal appeals panel that said a proposed San Francisco ordinance requiring sugar warnings in soda ads could violate the free speech rights of beverage and advertising groups.

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has agreed to hear that case,Am. Bev. Ass’n v. San Francisco, so it ...