By Nadia Adawi, Washington State Bar Association Animal Law Section extern

On March 31, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in National Meat Association v. Brown. The court was asked to review an injunction barring the application of Cal. Pen. Code § 599f which would ban the receipt and slaughter of downer animals and require the humane handling of downer animals. NMA had argued that section 599f is preempted by the Federal Meat Inspection Act, violates the dormant commerce clause and is unconstitutionally vague. The 9th Circuit disagreed.  The opinion is available here.