All nanny state points aside I don't really think that decision of Judge Tingling (has there ever been a better name for a judge?) is all that good for liberty lovers or classical liberals. Tingling wrote:
This reads to me that Judge Tingling would be okay with the 20 ounce soda ban in NYC if it was extended to
every business in NYC that served any type of beverage in a 20 ounce cup. This would apply to coffee shops, I would assume where massive amounts of high calorie drinks are sipped by enlightened progressive law school students every minute of the day. The judge writes that the law is "arbitrary" if every aspect of beverage drinking in NYC is not covered by a similar law.
Furthermore, Judge Tingling also commented that supermarkets and large chain stores don’t fall under city regulations and wouldn’t have been impacted by the ban. But local, mom-and-pop bodegas would have been forced to adhere to the 16-ounce ban. Thus he is arguing that the law DOES NOT GO FAR ENOUGH and should be enforced on ALL businesses that engage in beverage sales all the way down to grocery stores.
What is worse is that the judge argues for the city council and the state legislature to pass a ban along the draconian lines he dictates. “There is no rational argument purporting to demonstrate legislative inaction in this area,” Tingling wrote. His decision is no win for libertarian minded individuals but a sounding declaration for more state intervention in individual diets.
