August 27, 2013 — A federal appeals court refused Tuesday to halt enforcement of California's ban on possession and sale of shark fins, rejecting arguments that the law discriminates against Chinese Americans.
The law was passed in 2011, but took full effect only last month, when selling and serving shark fin soup, a traditional Chinese delicacy, became illegal.
Sponsors of the law said it was meant to stop the cutting of fins from live sharks outside U.S. territorial water, a practice already banned in federal waters, and to protect consumers from mercury in the fins.
But organizations of Chinese American businesses and shark fin suppliers argued that the ban was discriminatory and conflicted with federal management of ocean resources. Their suit gained support last month from the Obama administration, which said the ban would interfere with a commercial market that federal law was intended to preserve.
On Tuesday, however, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said opponents had failed to make a case for blocking enforcement while they continue to challenge the law.
The 2011 law was neutrally worded, the three-judge panel said, and opponents "presented no persuasive evidence that the California Legislature's real intent was to discriminate against Chinese Americans rather than to accomplish the law's stated humanitarian, conservationist and health goals."
Read the full story at the San Francisco Chronicle