WASHINGTON — An ambivalent appeals court has upheld a law backed by the California dairy industry and sponsored by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, that forcibly folded a large Arizona dairy into a web of government regulations.
In a ruling awaited by industry leaders, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims by influential dairyman Hein Hettinga that the 2006 law violated the Constitution by targeting him in particular. The law did not name Hettinga's company, Sarah Farms, although its provisions governing milk marketing were drawn narrowly enough to have the same effect.
"The (law) would apply to any producer-handler that meets its statutory requirements, not only the Hettingas," the appellate court reasoned, adding that "a statute with open-ended applicability … does not single out a particular person or group for punishment."
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