Supreme Court Upholds California’s Proposition 12 Pork Ban

2 Min Read By Pooja S. Nair

On May 11, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld California’s Proposition 12, finding in a divided, 5-4 opinion, that it did not violate the Interstate Commerce. 

Proposition 12 is a farm animal confinement ballot initiative passed in 2018, by a 62 percent vote. Among other animal welfare measures, it bans the same of Pork in California from farms that confine pregnant pigs in gestation crates.  The law requires that veal calves, breeding pigs, and egg-laying hens to be housed in systems that comply with specific standards for freedom of movement, cage-free design, and specified minimum floor space. The law and accompanying regulations also prohibit businesses from knowingly engaging in the sale of shell eggs, liquid eggs, whole pork meat or whole veal meat from animals housed in a “cruel manner.”

Plaintiffs National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation filed the lawsuit on behalf of their members and argued that Proposition 12 was…