Judge refuses to lift foie gras ban

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2012/09/19/judge-denies-preliminary-injunction-for-foie-gras-ban/

Hot off the press from Southern California: Judge Stephen Wilson has denied the preliminary injunction that would have stopped California from enforcing the July 1 ban on foie gras and other products from force-fed birds.

In essence, this ruling means that the big lawsuit — filed on July 3 by New York-based Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Canadian non-profit Association des Eleveurs de Canards et d’Oies du Québec and Southern California’s Hot’s Restaurant Group, Inc. — will go to trial. The plaintiffs are claiming that the ban is unconstitutional, vague and interferes with federal commerce laws.

The injunction was an attempt to suspend the ban, and it would have been effective immediately. But it was rebuffed; the ban is still in effect.