A court decision on whether to uphold the rule that allows Canadian cattle younger than 30 months to enter the United States may take two to four months.
The Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund appeared before the Ninth District court of appeals in Portland, Oregon, July 13 asking that the case be remanded to Montana for a full hearing. R-CALF said new information on Canada’s BSE situation warrants another hearing.
The judges could agree with the U.S. Department of Agriculture position that Canadian beef is safe and uphold the rule.
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If that happens R-CALF would have to decide its next step, which may be a request to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could take years.
The judges could also agree with R-CALF and send the case back to district court in Montana to be heard again.
The rule to allow younger Canadian cattle to enter the U.S. became necessary after all Canadian cattle were banned from the U.S. when BSE was discovered in Canada in 2003.
Because BSE does not normally appear in younger animals, the import rules were later relaxed to allow in cattle younger than 30 months.
