USDA Suffers Major Legal Defeat
Michael Doyle of McClatchy Newspapers reports on some very bad news for the overreaching regulators at the U.S. Department of Agriculture:
The Supreme Court on Monday provided legal juice for growers who want to sue the U.S. Agriculture Department and the California Table Grape Commission over grapevine patents.
In a decision noteworthy for farmers nationwide, the high court declined to review a lower court’s ruling that waived USDA’s customary immunity from lawsuits. The decision, issued without comment, effectively upholds the earlier appellate ruling and gives a green light for further legal battle over the “Scarlet Royal” and “Autumn King” grapevine variety patents....
“They deserve to be sued,” prominent Visalia, Calif.-area grape grower and nursery owner Luther J. Khachigian said Monday. “They don’t belong in the nursery business . . . they’re interfering in a business they don’t know anything about.”
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"...they’re interfering in a business they don’t know anything about."
In other words, government as usual.
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This.
Bureaucrats in suits making decisions about business and the lives of people based off of no practical experience. That's all government is. It's a fucking sham.
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Right. They're just noticing this?
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Slightly off-topic, but I'll just throw out my favorite USDA factoid: there are federal regulations on snail husbandry. Contemplate that on the tree of woe.
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Hey, if you don't want snail husbandry regulations, why don't you go live in Somalia?
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No snail market, sadly. There are some things even a starving Somali won't eat.
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No snail market, sadly.
Obviously the USDA is the only reason there even IS a snail market! Get out of your FAUX NEWS bubble!
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Indeed. Without the USDA's guidance in everything, we'll all starve to death. Is that what you want, you heartless monster? Well, is it?
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There are 22 pages of regulations devoted to frozen broccoli.
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Since the usual suspects haven't yet said it in earnest, I will in snark: With only 21 pages, we'd all die from contaminated frozen broccoli.
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Because the Agricultural Research Service developed the grapevine varieties starting in the 1990s, the USDA owns them...
Then they should be placed in the public domain.
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I really like how when public funds are devoted to public research, somehow only the US Government is allowed to utilize the fruits of said research.