Instant Analysis: Bloomberg Soda Ban “Arbitrary and Capricious” & “Eviscerates” Separation of Powers

March 11th, 2013

Here is an early report from CNBC. I will try to find the opinion. Michael Bloomberg can’t even satisfy the rational basis test!?

Update: From WSJ:

The city is “enjoined and permanently restrained from implementing or enforcing the new regulations,” New York Supreme Court Judge Milton Tingling decided Monday.

The regulations are “fraught with arbitrary and capricious consequences,” the judge wrote. “The simple reading of the rule leads to the earlier acknowledged uneven enforcement even within a particular city block, much less the city as a whole….the loopholes in this rule effectively defeat the stated purpose of the rule.”

Update 2: Courtesy of WSJ, here is a link to the opinion.

It is a pretty dry opinion, but the crux of it seems to be that since the law was not created by the elected branches, but rather some sort of administrative agencies, the law is invalid.

And here is why the law violates the rational basis test:

soda

 

And it gets better. The judge refers to Bloomberg’s plan as an “Administrative Leviathan” and “eviscerates” separation of powers.

leviathan