U.S. Supreme Court preserves California humane pig confinement law (updated)

Seaboard

11/05/2023 15:18

(Adds comments from Human Society, Seaboard Corp)
    By Nate Raymond and Andrew Chung
       May 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday
preserved a California law banning the sale of pork in America's
most-populous state from pigs kept in tightly confined spaces,
rejecting an industry challenge claiming that the voter-backed
animal welfare measure impermissibly regulates out-of-state
farmers.
    The justices voted 5-4 to uphold a lower court's dismissal
of a lawsuit by the National Pork Producers Council and the
American Farm Bureau Federation seeking to invalidate the law,
but they were divided in their reasons for doing so. 
    The industry had argued that the measure violated a U.S.
Constitution provision called the Commerce Clause that courts
have interpreted as empowering the federal government - not
states - to regulate interstate commerce.
    "While the Constitution addresses many weighty issues, the
type of pork chops California merchants may sell is not on that
list," wrote conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, who authored the
court's main opinion. 
    The measure, approved by voters as a 2018 ballot initiative
called Proposition 12, bars sales in California of pork, veal
and eggs from animals whose confinement failed to meet certain
minimum space requirements. 
    The law mandates pig confinement spaces large enough to
enable the animals to turn around, lie down, stand up and extend
their limbs. 
    The pork industry groups argued that the law violated the
Constitution by forcing farmers in other states to change their
practices in order to sell pork in California, a lucrative
market. 
    Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the
United States, praised the ruling. 
    "We won't stop fighting until the pork industry ends its
cruel, reckless practice of confining mother pigs in cages so
small they can't even turn around. It's astonishing that pork
industry leaders would waste so much time and money on fighting
this commonsense step to prevent products of relentless,
unbearable animal suffering from being sold in California," said
Block, whose group intervened in the case to defend Proposition
12.
    Scott Hays, president of the National Pork Producers Council
and a Missouri pork producer, voiced disappointment with the
Supreme Court's decision.
    "Allowing state overreach will increase prices for consumers
and drive small farms out of business, leading to more
consolidation," Hays said.
    Seaboard Corp  SEB.A , the third-biggest U.S. pig producer,
is prepared to supply California customers with "limited
supplies of compliant pork" starting on July 1, company
spokesperson David Eaheart said. The company, which runs
Seaboard Foods, converted a portion of its farms and plant
operations to meet California's requirements before the Supreme
Court's decision, Eaheart said.
    Chief Justice John Roberts wrote a partial dissent that was
joined by fellow conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Brett
Kavanaugh, as well as liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The
four said they would have allowed the challengers to the
California law to pursue their claim in the lower courts.
    "In my view, petitioners plausibly allege a substantial
burden against interstate commerce," Roberts wrote. 
    California farms collectively are only a small part of the  
 $26 billion-a-year U.S. pork industry. The size of cages used
at American pig farms is humane and necessary for animal safety,
according to the industry, which asserts that California's law
gives the state unwarranted influence over the pork sector.
    President Joe Biden's administration sided with the pork
producers in the case, saying that states cannot ban products
that pose no threat to public health or safety due to
philosophical objections.
    Proposition 12 set the required space for breeding pigs, or
sows, at 24 square feet (2.2 square meters). The current
industry standard is between 14 and 20 square feet (1.3 to 1.9
square meters), according to a 2021 report from Dutch banking
and financial services company Rabobank. 
    The Supreme Court took up the case after the San
Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a
judge's decision to throw out the pork industry challenge.

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U.S. Supreme Court wrestles with pork industry challenge to
California law        urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N31C1W3
Pork industry takes fight over California law to U.S. Supreme
Court        urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N3172N5
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 (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston and Andrew Chung in New
York; Additional reporting John Kruzel in Washington and Tom
Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Will Dunham)
 ((Nate.Raymond@thomsonreuters.com and Twitter @nateraymond;
347-243-6917))