A penny-per-pound marketing fee on honey producers has survived a legal challenge from a group of beekeepers at odds with the National Honey Board. An administrative law judge in Washington ruled last week that the national honey checkoff program was constitutional. In a 27-page ruling, Judge Jill S. Clifton cited a May Supreme Court opinion that kept intact a mandatory beef promotion "tax" administered by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. Clifton observed that the honey and beef checkoff programs, both passed by Congress and overseen by the Agriculture Department, constitute "government speech" that is not subject to the First Amendment....