The court of appeals vacated a judgment of the district and remanded with instructions to dismiss. The court held that a plaintiff who challenged the position of the Department of Agriculture that there is no specific federal statute that governs humane handling and slaughter of poultry lacked standing to proceed.
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a notice in the Federal Register that, among other things, asserted that there is no specific federal statute for humane handling and slaughter of poultry. Ellen Levine and others (collectively, Levine) sued for declaratory relief and injunction, alleging that USDA improperly considered poultry to be “other livestock” under the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1958 (HMSA of 1958).
