Do California environmentalists have the right to tell you how to build your barn in Iowa? Do Californians have the right to eat bacon? Those questions and more will now be put in front of the highest court in the land.
The Supreme Court has taken up the question of the legality of California’s Proposition 12, which banned the sale of chickens, veal calves, and pigs in California unless they were raised in nice, cozy, environmentalist-approved enclosures. Though San Francisco animal rights activists have no farm experience outside of singing “Old MacDonald,” they have somehow decided that they know how farmers should lay out their barns and animal enclosures.
The result is the likely ban of around 95% of pork from being sold in California. Enlightened activists want sows housed in group pens, increasing the risk of disease or, as is common in pigs, violence between animals. Though most pig farmers do not operate in California, the state would require them to rebuild their barns and risk their animals’ welfare if they want access to California’s massive market.
California has tried to leverage its population to force car manufacturers to adhere to its strict standards across the nation, and the state wants to do the same with farmers as well. Even President Joe Biden doesn’t support this hogwash, as his administration filed a brief against California. The Golden State can’t simply bankrupt farmers by depriving them of the state’s market or forcing them to spend millions on renovations, the Biden administration argued.
Consumers who may be steamed by the high prices that will result from the measure are left to hope that the Supreme Court won’t allow California to hijack the regulations of every industry in the nation. Otherwise, the pork industry may be smoked — and not in a good way.
