American Meat Institute, et al. v. United States Department of Agriculture, No. 13-CV-1033 (KBJ), 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129099 (D. D.C. Sept. 11, 2013)

(plaintiffs, consortium of meat packers and their political lobbying organizations, sued to enjoin country of origin labeling (COOL) regulations that went into effect on May 23, 2013 (even though USDA said it would not enforce COOL rules until Nov. 24, 2013) until lawsuit ultimately decided; plaintiffs claimed COOL rules violated their First Amendment right to not be compelled to speak via providing consumers with more information about where animals from which meat produced were born, raised and slaughtered, and disallowing misleading mixed-country labels; court denied preliminary injunction; while court noted that balance of interests tipped slightly to plaintiffs because COOL rules will cost them more than it would cost defendant for not complying with WTO decision (WTO determined that COOL rules incentivized purchased of U.S. produced meats as opposed to Mexico or Canada-produced meats under generic “USDA” label), court determined that plaintiff not likely to ultimately prevail on lawsuit, would not suffer irreparable injury if injunction not granted and preliminary injunction not in public interest).