The F.D.A.'s inspectors can seize suspect imports, but they lack the power to automatically bar imported food just because it comes from a country with an inferior food-safety system.

Never mind that a felony plea for a firm automatically bars it from being an investment adviser or running a mutual fund.

Such a venture although highly speculative is legitimate, but it automatically bars you from any moral right to take part in the regular party processes, including the primary.

That law said the fact that a crime victim attended or watched a trial should not automatically bar the victim from testifying at the penalty phase.

An extradition treaty would streamline the return of suspects to China, but the absence of one does not automatically bar the return of suspected or convicted criminals.

Listing Romania as non-repressive would automatically bar Gypsies, whatever the evidence of persecution in Romania.

Therefore, that the president is a Mormon or Catholic or Muslim or Shintoist shouldn't automatically bar him from office, but it CERTAINLY matters.

She was an actress-which automatically barred her from full respectability for the rest of her life.

He did not discuss how he would handle cases involving relatives, but Federal ethics rules automatically bar him from ruling on matters in which his family is involved.

A retired Arizona highway patrol officer, Dennis Ingram, had challenged Mr. Mecham's right to hold office, saying the state constitution automatically barred him from doing so because of his impeachment and ouster.