Court denies motion for First Amendment relief in TTB’s failure to approve COLAs during shutdown as moot
You guessed it. Atlas Brew Works Certificate of Label Approval COLA First Amendment Lawsuit Court order denying TRO as moot.
In the order the court recognized that the granting of the Precious One label mooted that issue and also found that since the other Atlas Brew Works labels would likely be approved before the next threatened shutdown, those claims were moot as well (that’s arguable given the current processing times).
The court did not address issues such as whether or not this was the type of controversy that should proceed as the matters are likely to arise again. It left open the possibility that the government’s re-opening did not moot the entire case and ordered the U.S. to respond by February 28.
Unless there’s an appeal of the mootness issue, it looks like we may have to wait on another shutdown to see how these arguments fair.
