Gallo Cattle Co. v. California Milk Advisory Board

Gallo Cattle Company (“Gallo”) filed an action against the California Milk Producers Advisory Board (“CMAB”); Ann M. Vene-man, Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (“Secretary”); and the State of California (collectively “defendants”), alleging that CMAB’s compulsory assessments for the promotion and advertising of California milk and dairy products violate Gallo’s First Amendment rights. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, and Gallo timely appeals. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

I.

A. Statutory and Regulatory Background

In 1937, California implemented the California Marketing Act (“Marketing Act” or “Act”), Cal. Food & Agric. Code § 58601 et seq., to prevent economic waste in the marketing of commodities, to develop more efficient and equitable methods of marketing commodities, and to provide the methods and means for maintaining present markets for, as well as developing new and larger markets for, commodities grown within the State. See Cal. Food & Agric. Code §§ 58652 , 58654. The Secretary is charged with administering the Marketing Act, see Cal. Food & Agric. Code § 58711 , and is…