Beef Ads Funded by Cattle Sale ‘Checkoffs’ Are Government Speech

An organization representing independent cattle producers lost its challenge to a sales assessment that funds beef industry promotions because the resulting government speech is exempt from First Amendment scrutiny, the Ninth Circuit said Tuesday.

Federal law imposes a $1 “checkoff” on each head of cattle sold in order to pay for beef consumption promotions. Qualified state beef councils receive a portion of the funds for their own and third-party use. The Secretary of Agriculture oversees the program, and the promotional “message is firmly established by the federal government,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

The ...