The Endless Debate over Sandwiches May Now End, at Least in Indiana

We have covered this topic before. The topic is almost as old as this Blog, with our first post on the subject dating from 2006. We covered the sandwich debate here in 2008, when a Massachusetts court ruled that a burrito is not a sandwich. We did it again when Taco Bell turned the issue into a commercial. I wish I didn't have to cover it again, but at least this time we have something of a resolution. Moreover, Blogger Emerita, Meredith Miller (left) shared the story with me, and when Meredith feeds me stories, I rush to post in the hope that she will feel bad that I have to do so and maybe she'll come back and post her own stuff.

As Praveena Somasundaram reports in The Washington Post (yes, this is national news), Allen County Superior Court Judge Craig J. Bobay has ruled that burritos and tacos are, in fact, sandwiches. The are "Mexican-style sandwiches," to be precise.  Ms. Somasundaram took a deep dive in reporting the case, noting: the 2006 Massachusetts decision; Justice Ginsburg's view, voiced to Stephen Colbert on The Late Show in 2018, that hot dogs served on buns are sandwiches; and the "cube rule," according which a taco (and a hot dog for that matter) is a taco, and a burrito (as well as a corn dog) is a calzone.  It all turns on the location of the starch.

Judge Bobay broke out of the box, or the cube, ruling that tacos are not tacos, but sandwiches.  Burritos are not calzones.  They too are sandwiches.  But resolving whether tacos and burritos are sandwiches did not necessarily resolve the case.  It involved a zoning restriction, which prohibited fast-food restaurants, but carved out an exception for made-to-order sandwich shops, so long as they do not serve alcohol, have outdoor speakers or drive-throughs, or provide outdoor seating. Presumably, the Famous Taco franchise that Judge Bobay allowed made its tacos and burritos to order.  

You may be wondering what any of this has to do with contracts.  If I were on the job market, I think I would say, "the relationship is orthogonal."  Ilya Somin provides a more straightforward and interesting take on the case on The Volokh Conspiracy, focusing on issues of interpretation and zoning restrictions.  Like a talk-show guest, he deftly pivots at the end to hawk his latest scholarship, co-authored with Joshua Braver on The Constitutional Case Aaainst Exclusionary Zoning.

Would Burger King fit the exception, or it is no longer the case that you can "have it your way" at Burger King?