The appeals court for the other cases in the Pig Battle has handed down its decision. Here is their decision in a nutshell:
“The rules governing our review of this dispute command us to afford great deference to
the DNR’s method for delineating a particular invasive species. The classification at issue may
be imperfect, but it is neither unconstitutionally vague nor irrational. We reverse the circuit
court’s equal protection and due process rulings, dissolve the injunction it imposed, and affirm
that the invasive species order possesses sufficient clarity to pass constitutional muster.”
You can read the whole document here: Appeals court ruling 2015.
We are unaffected at this time since we have our separate ruling that our pigs don’t fall under the prohibited pig distinction. However, that the unelected and unaccountable DNR can make unilateral rules to make farmers felons has potential to affect us all. This is the crux of the issue and the hill on which Mark fought.
Which is an important point. In a recent facebook “conversation” people took issue with the breed of pig we have and Mark’s character personally. To make this a “breed of pig” argument is the same as arguing about what which type of truck is best: Ford, Chevy, or Dodge. To put it another way, the government agency made a rule about what type of truck farmers could drive. The question is not whether they should ban (say) Fords or not, but whether or not they have the Constitutional authority to make such a rule and send people to jail over it at all. The rule was about pigs, but the idea is the same.
It isn’t just pigs in Michigan, though. Stay watchful, stay involved.