Some expected ramping-up in the legal battle over foie gras: On Monday, Crain's Chicago Business reported that the Illinois Restaurant Association had amended its lawsuit against the city's ordinance banning the service of foie gras. The group now claims the ordinance is unconstitutional (Daley's basic complaint when the law was passed in August) in its attempts to regulate the sale of a national product on a local level. Then on Wednesday, a group including Farm Sanctuary, the U.S.Humane Society, Heartland Cafe, and Bistro Campagne, issued a press release announcing that they had "filed a petition to intervene" in the lawsuit, saying that the "baseless attacks on this humane law are just as tough to swallow as the cruel force-feeding of ducks and geese." The original lawsuit is based on violation of the state's constitution; the city is defending using the idea that it’s "allowed to pass laws that protect its 'image and reputation'"; hence the opening, says the Restaurant Association, for a (U.S.) constitutional argument, since the city is still not addressing interference with "the free flow of goods between states."

Maybe Chicago's battle over fatty liver will end up in Washington?  I have an incorrect but unshakable mental image of all nine black-robes meditatively sawing away at delicate foie gras-based appetizers as part of the evidentiary proceedings, then feeling urpy and nauseous watching a hand-held documentary about gavage after.