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Suit Challenges USDA's Animal Tagging On Religious Freedom Grounds

By Howard M. Friedman

Earlier this week, a lawsuit was filed in federal district court in the District of Columbia challenging implementation and enforcement by Michigan of the USDA's National Animal Identification System for cattle. The complaint (full text) in Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund v. U.S. Department of Agriculture, (D DC, filed Sept. 8, 2008) alleges that the system which uses electronic radio frequency identification tags infringes the religious freedom of four individual plaintiffs in the case. Plaintiffs see the numbering system as the prohibited "mark of the beast" and as infringing their "dominion over cattle and all living things". For two of the Old Order Amish plaintiffs, the system would also force them to use technology in violation of their religious beliefs. The complaint alleges violations of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Michigan's constitutional protection of free exercise of religion, as well as violations of administrative law and environmental requirements. On Tuesday, Wired reported on the lawsuit. (See prior related posting.) [Thanks to Matthew Caplan for the lead.]

Full post as published by Religion Clause on September 13, 2008 (boomark / email).