Can Pork Products be Banned in an American City?

[Nietzsche]

As Judge Posner noted in Cavel, “a state is permitted, within reason, to express disgust at what people do with . . . dead animals.”
.

See, all stuff like that does is make me wonder what "within reason" is. For instance, could I make love to a dead pig? I'm not ****ing it, damn it.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

A city near me (Hamtramck, Michigan) became the first city in America with a Muslim majority on its city council. They passed an ordinance saying alcohol can not be sold within a certain distance of a mosque. The non-Muslim mayor of the city does not like what is going on.

I want to speculate on the hypotheticals. Could they ban the sale of alcohol altogether in the city? I think they can because I think there are dry cities/counties in America now. I want to kick it up a notch. Theoretically, can the city council ban the sale of pork products in the city? Then what?

They aren't going to ban pork products. In America, it's only Christianity that gets to poke through the otherwise-impenetrable barrier between church and state. Only Christianity gets to stick its nose into the lives of non-adherents.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Perhaps we'd see a banning war.....
One town bans pork, another retaliates by banning Halal food, & so it proceeds.

Since most food in general is halal, that'd be cutting off their nose to spite their face, IMO.

... unless they'd make all food haraam by requiring everything to be wrapped in bacon.

Mmmm...... bacon-wrapped pudding.

 

[Nous]

It's a right that falls under the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.

Where did you get that idea? Please cite the case law.

Why do business supposedly have a constitutional right to sell pork and people supposedly have a constitutional right to purchase pork products for human consumption, but there are no such rights regarding horse meat or dog meat? After all, Cavel obviously wanted to stay in business.

And, apparently, despite your knowledge of legal terminology and cases, you are unfamiliar with US history.

What did I say erroneous about US history?

 

[Nous]

See, all stuff like that does is make me wonder what "within reason" is. For instance, could I make love to a dead pig? I'm not ****ing it, damn it.

I can only assume that Posner’s comment was intended to express a rationale for this law that the Illinois legislature had passed as a matter of public policy and that does not violate anyone’s rights.

I’m unsure what you mean by “making love to a dead pig,” but in fact many jurisdictions have laws that dictate what one must do with the body of a dead animal that one owned. If a jurisdiction passed a law prohibiting whatever you’re proposing to do with the dead body of a pig, it’s quite likely that such a law would be upheld.

It’s actually no different than anti-cruelty laws, which regulate what a person can or cannot do to an animal that is covered by the law, even though the law only recognizes animals as a person's property. You can take a blow torch to your perfectly good TV and destroy it, but (in most jurisdictions) you can’t do that to your dog.

 

[Twilight Hue]

A city near me (Hamtramck, Michigan) became the first city in America with a Muslim majority on its city council. They passed an ordinance saying alcohol can not be sold within a certain distance of a mosque. The non-Muslim mayor of the city does not like what is going on.

I want to speculate on the hypotheticals. Could they ban the sale of alcohol altogether in the city? I think they can because I think there are dry cities/counties in America now. I want to kick it up a notch. Theoretically, can the city council ban the sale of pork products in the city? Then what?

It could make for an interesting argument. After all there were Blue laws once. Maybe still in effect some areas.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Pork not being sold in a city =/= placing city under islamic law.

It would be if they did it for religious purposes, which a Muslim majority banning alcohol in a city would very likely be due to religious purposes. We have enough Christian ones we are still trying to strike down without adding the laws of another religion on the list of laws that need to go.