The Volokh Conspiracy

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Volokh Conspiracy

Right to Advertise Raw Milk

The Kansas Department of Agriculture has agreed that a Kansas statute sharply limiting such advertising violates the First Amendment.

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Kansas law allows "the sale of milk or milk products on the farm by the producer from the production of the dairy herd to the final consumer"—including raw milk—but only

so long as the person making such sales does not promote the sale of milk or milk products to the public in any manner other than by the erection of a sign upon the premises of the dairy farm.

The Kansas Justice Institute, representing Mark and Coraleen Bunner, sued, claiming this advertising restriction violates the First Amendment; and the Kansas Department of Agriculture has conceded, agreeing to a consent judgment:

The Raw Milk Advertising Ban is unconstitutional. Specifically, that the
language in KSA § 65-771(cc) "so long as the person making such sales
does not promote the sale of milk or milk products to the public in any
manner other than by the erection of a sign upon the premises of the dairy
farm." is unconstitutional in that it violates the First and Fourteenth
Amendments to the United States Constitution and Kansas Constitution
Bill of Rights § 11.

Indeed.