In a key legal ruling, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) successfully fended off a lawsuit filed by a student who claimed her First Amendment rights were violated due to restrictions on her ability to criticize the consumption of cow’s milk in her high school. The lawsuit, which challenged the USDA’s involvement in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), was dismissed by a federal judge on Saturday.
The case stemmed from an incident in which Marielle Williamson, a former senior at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles, was prohibited by school administrators from distributing literature promoting non-dairy milk and critiquing the dairy industry. School officials insisted that she could only hand out such materials if she also provided literature endorsing dairy milk.
Williamson, a vegan, partnered with the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) to file the lawsuit in May 2023, arguing that the USDA’s policy of promoting cow’s milk in schools violated her free speech rights. However, U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin, in his decision, concluded that Williamson no longer had standing to sue the USDA, as she had already graduated, and that her claims were moot.
Court Dismisses Claims of Censorship
Judge Olguin ruled that there was no evidence to suggest the USDA had directly censored Williamson or created a mechanism to punish students for their speech. He emphasized that while Williamson alleged her speech was “chilled,” there was no clear, present harm or specific future harm, which is necessary for a legal challenge to proceed.
“Mere allegations of a subjective chill are not an adequate substitute for a claim of specific present objective harm or a threat of specific future harm,” the judge wrote in his opinion.
Williamson, now a sophomore at Duke University studying in China, expressed disappointment over the ruling but vowed to continue advocating for alternatives to dairy milk in school meal programs.
Ongoing Advocacy for Dairy Alternatives in Schools
While the lawsuit against the USDA was dismissed, the controversy surrounding the issue remains alive. Deborah Press, associate general counsel at PCRM, stressed that the broader issue of providing vegan-friendly options to students still needs attention. “The problem remains that there are thousands of students who rely on school meals and need an alternative to cow’s milk,” Press said. “Marielle’s lawsuit raised the conversation to the national level.”
The lawsuit had previously resulted in a settlement between Williamson’s legal team and the Los Angeles Unified School District in November 2023, where the district acknowledged students’ right to criticize dairy milk. As part of the settlement, the district also agreed to provide free soy milk to students.
While the USDA did not immediately comment on the decision, the case underscores the tension between individual rights and federal policies on school nutrition programs.
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