SCOTUS Rejects Prop 12 Case

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- The Supreme Court on Monday denied an Iowa Pork Producers Association petition on California's Proposition 12.

The petition came about after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit last year rejected the IPPA's constitutional challenge to the law.

Prop 12 makes it a criminal offense and civil violation to sell whole pork meat in California unless the pig it comes from is born to a sow that was housed within 24 square feet of space and in conditions that allow a sow to turn around without touching an enclosure. Proposition 12 applies to any uncooked pork sold in the state, regardless of whether it was raised in California.

In January 2025, 23 states joined the Iowa Pork Producers Association in an appeal to the Supreme Court challenging Prop 12. Read about that here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

The challenge stems from a previous Supreme Court ruling on the case, which determined California's law does not violate the Commerce Clause.

However, five of the nine justices in that case said Prop 12 -- which enacts a pork sales ban on farms across the country that don't follow the state's animal-housing regulations -- could "impose a substantial burden on interstate commerce" under what is known as the Pike balancing test.

That test is used by the Supreme Court to determine whether state laws are unconstitutional because they violate interstate commerce.

The Supreme Court ruled against the National Pork Producers Council in 2023 in its challenge to Prop 12. In that case, the plaintiff did not make a discrimination claim.

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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