NEW YORK (AP) - A federal appeals court upheld a ruling that struck down state statutes that set standards for kosher food on the grounds that the rules violate the First Amendment.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the laws improperly take sides in a religious matter, require the state to take an official position on religious doctrine and delegate civic authority to individuals apparently chosen according to religious criteria.
Tuesday's ruling upheld an August 2000 decision in favor of two Long Island butchers who sued the state Department of Agriculture and Markets.
"Through these laws, the state has selected the views of one branch of Judaism ... to the exclusion of others," the appeals court wrote.
The court said the kosher fraud laws actually inhibit religion by defining "kosher" as synonymous with the views of only Orthodox Judaism while prohibiting other branches of Judaism from using the kosher label in a way consistent with their dietary requirements.
Christine Pritchard, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, said Spitzer's office had just received the ruling and will be reviewing it. The attorney general had challenged the lower court ruling.