H.J. Justin & Sons, Inc., Dba Justin Boot Company, a Texas Corporation v. George Deukmejian, Governor of the State of California

In this appeal appellant, a manufacturer of boots, asks us to reverse the district court’s judgment that Cal.Penal Code § 653 o (West Supp.1981) is not preempted by current federal statutes or regulations. Appellant seeks this ruling on appeal because it wishes to engage in trade within the State of California in boots made from the hides of African elephants, Indonesian pythons, and the Wallaby kangaroo. Cal. Penal Code § 653o purports to prohibit such trade. Holding that federal laws, with respect to trade in all three species at issue, did not preempt state law the district court ruled that section 653o could be applied to appellant. See H.J. Justin & Sons v. Brown, 519 F.Supp. 1383 (E.D.Cal.1981).

For the reasons set forth in Man Hing Ivory & Imports, Inc. v. Deukmejian, 702 F.2d 760 (9th Cir., 1983), we are compelled to reverse, in part, the district court’s ruling in this case. The district court here ruled in part that section 653o would prohibit trade within California in elephant products even by a federal permittee. That part of the district court’s decision cannot stand since we held in Man Hing that section 653o could not be applied to the holder of a federal permit…