Thursday, September 07, 2006

A Judicial B*tchslap

To the undoubted chagrin of my judicial-restraintist readers, I love it when the courts spank over-reaching States. In this instance, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a blow to the State of Louisiana and her protectionist attempts to favor local, in-state fish farmers at the expense of the rest of the planet's fishermen and Louisiana catfish-eaters. In summary, the court held that the "Catfish Statute," which statute precluded the use of the label "catfish" with respect to such fish imported from outside of the U.S., violated the dormant commerce clause. I'll forego the protracted, and quite boring, academic analysis of the judicial reasoning involved and simply murmur, Charlie Muuurphyyy - whack!