US supreme court to hear case on California's ban on extreme confinement crates

Source: The Guardian

US supreme court to hear case on California’s ban on extreme confinement crates

A ruling against the state’s Prop 12 animal welfare law could affect a range of regulations across the country

Marina Bolotnikova
Mon 3 Oct 2022 11.00 BST
Last modified on Mon 3 Oct 2022 16.03 BST

Next week, the US supreme court will hear oral arguments in a case that could put climate, public health and animal welfare regulations across the country on the chopping block – from California’s ban on gas-powered cars by 2035 to state bans on food packaging that contains BPA or lead.

The case will consider the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 12, a law that bans the sale of meat and eggs from animals raised using certain kinds of extreme confinement. The pork industry has been fighting Prop 12 since it passed by ballot measure in 2018 – with more than 62% of the vote and the backing of animal advocacy groups like the Humane Society of the United States – because it bans gestation crates: metal enclosures where pregnant pigs are kept for most of their lives that are so small that they can’t turn around or stretch their limbs.

The crates are standard practice in the pork industry even though, according to a supreme court brief filed by 378 veterinarians and animal welfare scientists, they “cause profound, avoidable suffering and deprive pigs of a minimally acceptable level of welfare”. According to a brief by the American Public Health Association, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and other groups, they can also contribute to disease spread to humans.

All of the pork industry’s legal challenges to Prop 12 so far have been unsuccessful, but in March, the supreme court agreed to hear its case. The US Department of Justice has since filed a brief backing the pork industry, a move that surprised many observers, especially since a group of 15 Democratic and independent senators previously urged the solicitor general to support Prop 12. (The Trump administration also briefed in favor of the pork industry when the case was being considered by a lower court.)

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/03/supreme-court-proposition-12-pig-gestation-crates-california-animal-welfare-law