The NAM filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review and reverse the lower courts’ dismissal of a challenge to a California ballot initiative that regulates the conduct of farmers, manufacturers, and producers nationwide. Proposition 12 bans the sale of imported pork and veal in California unless farmers and producers outside of California meet strict animal confinement standards set by California voters. The NAM argued in the brief that Proposition 12 violates the Commerce Clause by regulating conduct beyond California’s borders, impinging on other states’ sovereign authority to legislate within their own jurisdictions, and, substantially burdening out-of-state pork producers absent a sufficient and legitimate local interest.
On May 28, 2022, the Supreme Court granted the cert. petition. On June 17, the NAM filed an amicus brief asserting the same arguments included in its amicus brief filed in support of the U.S. Supreme Court granting review. This litigation is important to all manufacturers because if upheld, Proposition 12 may embolden other states to regulate out-of-state conduct, resulting in a complex web of inconsistent and competing extraterritorial regulations in the agriculture and food industries, and beyond.
Unfortunately, on May 11, 2023, the Supreme Court affirmed the 9th Circuit's decision affirming the lower court's dismissal of the case.