Laws Protecting Kosher Foods Struck Down
NEW YORK
A U.S. appeals court held that New York state laws aimed at preventing fraud in the sale of kosher food are unconstitutional because they fuse state and religious functions.
The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, in upholding a July 2000 decision by a Brooklyn federal court, also found the statutes violate a constitutional prohibition against laws that advance or inhibit religion.
The panel said New York statutes follow Orthodox Judaism rules while discriminating against other branches of Judaism. “We find the New York kosher fraud laws challenged here unconstitutional on their face,” the three-member panel said. “Even assuming the challenged laws were enacted for a valid secular purpose, they violate the Establishment Clause by fostering excessive state entanglement with religion.”
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