Maine's Supreme Judicial Court heard arguments this week in a case that challenges a 140-year-old ban on Sunday hunting.
A Readfield couple's lawsuit against the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife was dismissed by a Kennebec County court last year.
The couple appealed and on Wednesday, their attorney, Pamela Lee, told the justices that Maine's Right to Food constitutional amendment, passed by voters in 2021, invalidates the Sunday hunting ban.
"It is a broad sweeping and arbitrary ban without exceptions or limitations that infringes on what is now a constitutionally protected right," she said.
The attorney who represents the state, Paul Suitter, told the court that the amendment states the right to harvest — not hunt — for food.
"We look to the legislative history of the amendment, whose drafter repeatedly assured fellow legislators and the people of Maine that the amendment will not invalidate any hunting or fishing laws or regulations currently on the books," he said.
Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill says the case presents a "novel" question and the court will issue a written decision in due course.
