PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 16, 2023
Attorneys representing a Readfield couple filed an appeal brief with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday contending that their lawsuit seeking an end to Maine’s Sunday-hunting ban, which was dismissed by a lower court, has merit in light of the state’s new “right to food” amendment. Virginia and Joel Parker filed suit last April in Augusta District Court against the commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, contending that the Sunday hunting ban runs afoul of the right-to-food amendment now enshrined in the Maine Constitution. State voters approved the amendment in November 2021. The lower court dismissed the lawsuit in November without comment. Maine and Massachusetts are the only states that ban hunting on Sunday.