Thursday, June 26, 2014

New York City’s Soda Ban Struck Down

New York City’s “soda ban,” which prohibited merchants from selling most sugary drinks that were more than sixteen ounces, has met its end. The state’s highest court ruled the ban was illegal today, overturning an attempt to reinstate the law. - Daily Signal

Former mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to restore the controversial ban after lower courts struck it down as an overreach, but the New York Court of Appeals denied the effort.

“We hold that the New York City Board of Health, in adopting the “Sugary Drinks Portion Cap Rule”, exceeded the scope of its regulatory authority,” Judge Eugene Pigott Jr. wrote in the decision.

The judge claimed that the board of health “engaged in law-making and thus infringed upon the legislative jurisdiction” of New York’s City Council in its attempted ban.

“This was a bad day for the food police and a good day for individual freedom,” said Daren Bakst, The Heritage Foundation’s Research Fellow in Agricultural Policy.