Justice Department Wins Its Suit Against Florida To Require a Kosher Meal Program In Prisons

The U.S. Department of Justice has won it long-running lawsuit against the state of Florida over its prisons' kosher meal policy.  In United States v. Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, (SD FL, April 30, 2015), a Florida federal district court held that the blanket denial of kosher meals violates RLUIPA, and issued a permanent injunction requiring the state to provide kosher meals to those prisoners with a sincere religious belief requiring kosher meals.  The state initially suspended its kosher meal program for budgetary reasons, but reinstituted a program in 2013.  However the state rejects the claim that it is by law required to provide kosher meals. In granting the injunction, the court said in part:

Because neither side disputes that a blanket denial of kosher meals imposes a substantial burden on prisoners' religious exercise for those prisoners that have a sincere religious belief requiring them to eat kosher, the burden is on Defendants to demonstrate that denying such prisoners kosher meals (a) is in furtherance of a compelling state interest and (b) is the least restrictive means of achieving that interest. Throughout this litigation, Defendants have asserted that they have a compelling state interest in cost containment and that not providing a kosher diet is the least restrictive means of achieving cost containment.  Defendants have not met their burden....

As the United States contends, it is hard to understand how Defendants can have a compelling state interest in not spending money that they are already voluntarily spending on the exact thing they claim to have an interest in not providing.

The court also enjoined two other aspects of the religious diet program: the zero tolerance policy on infractions and the rule requiring removal from the program of an inmate who has missed 10% of his meals. However the court refused to enjoin the potential use as one part of its testing of an inmate's religious sincerity a question asking the inmate to identify the religious rules that require him to eat a religious diet. The Justice Department issued a press release announcing the decision. Orlando Sentinel yesterday reported on the decision.

Suit Challenging Hebrew National Hot Dog Advertising Is Back In State Court

American Jewish World reports at length on the July 31 Minnesota state trial court hearing on a motion to dismiss in a long-running lawsuit against the manufacturer of Hebrew National hot dogs.  The suit, which alleges that ConAgra Food's advertising was deceptive because some of the meat in the hot dogs did not meet the proper standards for kosher slaughter, was remanded to state court by the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals last April. (See prior posting.) Prior decisions in the case have focused on whether the 1st Amendment bars the court from determining proper standards of kosher slaughter, and on whether any particular consumer can prove that the hot dogs he or she ate contained non-kosher meat.  At the conclusion of the hearing, the court asked the lawyers to file briefs on the issue of standing to bring the suit under consumer protection laws.

New Law Aims To Increase Availability of Kosher and Halal Food In Emergency Assistance Programs

AP in a report today calls attention to a little-noticed provision in the Agriculture Act of 2014 that was signed into law by the President on Feb. 7.  Sec. 4207 of the Act provides for increased purchase of kosher and halal food for the government's emergency food assistance program.  The Section provides:

As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall finalize and implement a plan— 

(1) to increase the purchase of Kosher and Halal food from food manufacturers with a Kosher or Halal certification to carry out the program established under [the Emergency Food Assistance Act] if the Kosher and Halal food purchased is cost neutral as compared to food that is not from food manufacturers with a Kosher or Halal certification; and 

(2) to modify the labeling of the commodities list used to carry out the program in a manner that enables Kosher and Halal distribution entities to identify which commodities to obtain from local food banks.

Pentagon Says New Supplier For Kosher MREs Will Be Found

According to a JTA report earlier this week, the Pentagon says it is committed to supporting the religious dietary requirements of service members. The statement comes after Agudath Israel of America complained to  the top military chaplain that a solicitation by the Defense Logistics Agency last April for bids to cover halal and kosher MREs (meals ready-to-eat) was reissued last month to cover only halal MREs. The Defense Department acknowledges it was unsuccessful in obtaining bids for kosher MREs, but says it has issued a new solicitation and expects to select a supplier by April. Meanwhile it has sufficient kosher MREs on hand to meet the needs of Jewish members of the military deployed to the Central Command region (which includes the Middle East and Afghanistan).

In Israel, Haifa Chief Rabbi To Be Indicted Over Payoffs In Kashrut Supervision

In Israel, prosecutors last week informed the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of the city of Haifa, Shlomo Chelouche, that he is likely to be indicted for improper conduct in his supervision of kosher food purveyors. According to Thursday's Arutz Sheva, in two instances Chelouche solicited donations to a charitable organization he heads from companies to which he was granting kashrut certificates.  In the case of one of those companies he also arranged a job for a family member. He is also accused of removing the kashrut certificate of a third company, a catering hall, to pressure it to rehire his personal secretary as their kashrut inspector after the individual had been fired. Israel's Justice Minister Tzippy Livni said that because of the charges she would move to suspend Rabbi Chelouche from his positions as Chief Rabbi and religious court judge.

States Concerned Over Costs and Demand For Prison Kosher Food

Today's New York Times carries a front page story titled You Don’t Have to Be Jewish to Love a Kosher Prison Meal, focusing on the added cost to prison systems of serving kosher food ($7 per day vs. $1.54 in Florida) and the feigning of Jewish religious beliefs by some inmates in order to be placed on kosher diets:

Some states, like New York, do nothing to try to discern who is feigning Jewishness. In California, inmates talk with a rabbi who will gauge, very generally, a prisoner’s actual interest. 

But some Jewish groups in Florida are pushing for greater control, which may pose a difficult legal hurdle.

Objections To ".kosher" Top Level Domain Name Rejected

Earlier this week, the International Chamber of Commerce issued an "Expert Determination" rejecting objections to the application by Kosher Marketing Assets for rights to the new Internet general top level domain name ".kosher". In Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America v. Kosher Marketing Assets, L.L.C., (Intl. Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 14, 2014), the expert acting under ICANN rules issued an opinion rejecting objections by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, and backed by 11 other kosher certification organizations.  Objectors' primary concern was that the domain would promote only one certifying agency, OK Kosher, and products certified by it, and would thereby "usurp the communal word ‘kosher’, such that it will become exclusively associated with KMA and OK Kosher in the minds of food manufacturers and consumers."  The Expert disagreed, saying in part:

having regard to the assurances given by the Applicant and to the current safeguards, ...  there is today no serious ground for the accusation that the Application is designed to confer “monopoly status” on the Applicant over “.kosher” domain names and to permit the Applicant to engage in “exclusionary practices”, or in any event that it could lead to such a result. Nor does it seem likely that upholding the Application would lead to a “usurpation” of kosher by the Applicant or, more simply, that the Objector will not be permitted to register a domain under “.kosher”.

BNA Electronic Commerce & Law Report [subscription required] reports on the decision.