Resolute Forest Products, Inc. v. United States Department of Agriculture

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JAMES E. BOASBERG, United States District Judge

For the past several years, Plaintiff Resolute Forest Products, Inc. and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been locked in a straggle over the latter’s Softwood Lumber Checkoff Order. That Order requires any softwood-lumber domestic manufacturer or foreign importer who produces or imports more than 15 ‘million board feet (15mmbf) per year to pay a mandatory assessment on all softwood lumber shipped above that amount. Checkoff orders such as this are a kind of compulsory marketing program developed by private parties and…