New York Kosher Label Act Is Constitutional, Court Says

New York Kosher Label Act Is Constitutional, Court Says-By Bob Van Voris - May 10, 2012

A New York law regulating the marketing and labeling of kosher food doesn’t violate the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court ruled, rejecting a First Amendment challenge.

A three-judge panel of the court in New York today affirmed a lower-court ruling that upheld the law, which replaced an earlier version the court overturned in 2002. The appeals court said the Kosher Law Protection Act of 2004 doesn’t violate First Amendment provisions restricting laws relating to religion.

“The Kosher Act merely requires food products marketed as kosher to be labeled as kosher,” U.S. Circuit Judge Christopher Droney wrote. “The Kosher Act does not entangle the state with religion because it does not require the state to enforce laws based on religious doctrine or to inquire into the religious content or religious nature of the products sold.”

The court also rejected a challenge to the law as unconstitutionally vague.

The appeal was filed by a Long Island butcher shop and delicatessen, Commack Self-Service Kosher Meats Inc. The case is Commack Self-Service Kosher Meats v. Hooker, 11-3517, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Manhattan). To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in Manhattan federal court at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net

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