In a lawsuit alleging that Monsanto’s Roundup-branded herbicides caused cancer, the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a three-judge panel of the court had incorrectly applied a “force of law” analysis in ruling against Monsanto’s express preemption argument because the preemption provision enacted by Congress in the statute at issue (FIFRA) necessarily has the force of law.

As the en banc ruling stated, “[w]here Congress has enacted an express-preemption provision, we identify the state law that it preempts according to ordinary principles of statutory interpretation, and no presumption against preemption applies.” The case was remanded to the three-judge panel for further proceedings.

Carson v. Monsanto Co., — F.4th —, 2023 WL 4418639, No. 21-10994 (11th Cir. July 10, 2023)