— ANALYSIS —
Whether it was in federal court or, as now, state court, Amos Miller has delivered like one of those old Sunday morning serial cartoons.
Pennsylvania’s Attorney General thinks Miller, like everybody else, should comply with state raw milk license and permit requirements. Miller does not think so.
A state Lancaster County judge will decide the issue. And Miller’s attorney says the answer might be two or three years away.
The serial episodes, however, keep coming,
The latest inspired by Amos Miller is a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution by the “Food Freedom” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-KY.
“The right of the people to grow food and to purchase food from the source of their choice shall not be infringed, and Congress shall make no law regulating the production and distribution of food products which do not move across state lines,” according to the unlikely amendment by Massie.
Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds vote from both Houses of Congress and, even then, do not pass until an amendment is ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states.
At the same time, Miller is getting support from many blogs and podcasts on social media, including from Donald Trump Jr. and Massie.
Miller is currently prohibited from commercial sales of raw milk or raw milk products. Raw milk is not pasteurized. His attorneys have countered by asking the court for permission to conduct sales out state.
Miller primarily wants to get the AG’s civil action against him dismissed. His attorneys are accused of making “indecipherable” objections to make a case.
Among their arguments are:
-An injunction would hurt “the local Amish community,” and “Amos Miller is a pillar of the Amish Community.”
-The Commonwealth tries to “dictate what Miller is allowed to feed himself, his family, and even his own animals.”
-Preliminary injunctive relief will “bankrupt the defendant, severely damage the local Amish farming economy, and prevent thousands of Americans from obtaining food they need…”
-Defendant good is “known to be made in a traditional Amish way, and known to the informed consumer to be produced by an unregulated, unpermitted, unlicensed, uninspected and unapproved by the government family farmer.”
-Those who consume the food produced by the defendant do not consider any of the food as mislabeled because they want, demand, and need food made in the traditional way Amish farmers produced the food.
-The current injunction has caused harm to “thousands of Americans.”
The AG’s office calls all those statements “averments of facts on these matters.”
While the case continues, Miller has reset his GiveSendGo fundraising goal to $800,000, up from $300,000 after collecting $271,356 from his many donors.
Last year, Miller signed a Consent Decree with the federal government, agreeing to abide by USDA food regulations. In January, his farm was searched by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture over food illness investigations involving New York and Michigan.
Miller’s failure to maintain licenses and permits for raw milk production caused the AG to file a lawsuit against him.
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