On Monday, Free Speech For People and the Public Good Law Center filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, defending a Vermont law (Act 120) that requires food sold in Vermont and produced with genetic engineering to be labeled “produced with genetic engineering.”

Last year, major agribusiness and industrial food manufacturers and processors challenged the law in federal district court with a variety of claims, including that it violates their First Amendment rights by forcing them to “speak” against their will. Free Speech For People filed an amicus brief in federal district court in support of Vermont’s law, and as we explained here, Chief Judge Christina Reiss rejected nearly all of industry’s claims. The trade group appealed the decision.

We’ve joined with our allies at the Public Good Law Center to file an amicus brief in the Court of Appeals emphasizing that the First Amendment doesn’t give industry the right to conceal what’s in our food. The First Amendment was designed to protect democratic participation in self-government and promote individual autonomy of expression, not to exempt commercial vendors from labeling requirements.

To read and download our brief, click here.