Email
U.S. lawyers unleash attack on our nation’s most important farm animal welfare laws
| From | Wayne Pacelle <[email protected]> |
| Subject | U.S. lawyers unleash attack on our nation’s most important farm animal welfare laws |
| Date | July 10, 2025 7:19 PM |
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͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏[link removed] [[link removed]]
Dear friend,
I am deeply disappointed by the outrageous and ill-considered legal maneuverings of the U.S. Department of Justice.
America’s lawyers are on the attack against our nation’s most important farm animal welfare laws, specifically a set of laws in California designed to halt the extreme confinement of laying hens trapped wing-to-wing in battery cages.
Late yesterday, DOJ attorneys launched a transparently political attack on California’s landmark animal welfare laws. The DOJ’s lawsuit seeks to overturn Proposition 2 and Proposition 12, along with AB 1437 — laws that had enormous popular support and helped trigger and then drive one of the most significant shifts in the treatment of animals raised for food in our nation.
DOJ Throws a Stink Bomb Into America’s Egg Farms
Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy are calling this lawsuit exactly what it is: a set of stink bombs tossed into the bosom of America’s egg farms — just as the industry is struggling to recover from a devastating avian influenza epidemic that has already resulted in the depopulation of 135 million laying hens.
This reckless legal maneuver aims to invalidate laws that require hens to have enough space to “stand up, turn around, and spread their wings” — a standard of decency and nothing with even the whiff of a radical notion. And yet somehow, these immensely popular laws and these fundamental principles are now the target of federal litigation by our own government.
The DOJ argues that California’s laws conflict with the Egg Products Inspection Act and are therefore “preempted” by federal law. But this argument is as flimsy as it is familiar. This line of argument advanced by extreme players in the world of animal agriculture has been repeatedly rejected by federal courts, including by federal appellate courts and by the U.S. Supreme Court. Two years ago, the high court upheld California’s Prop 12 as a proper exercise of state authority in NPPC v. Ross. Just over a week ago, the same Supreme Court turned away an offer to hear the case anew as brought by the Iowa Pork Producers.
Until yesterday, it seems that the industry had reached a dead end in the federal courts.
The American Egg Industry Will Treat This Lawsuit as a Threat to Its Producers
Here’s the kicker: the egg industry doesn’t even support this lawsuit. Far from it. The egg industry is quaking at the thought that such a lawsuit might succeed, undercutting its collective investment of billions of dollars to create more extensive housing systems for laying hens.
Unlike the pork industry, which has fought and lost 19 straight legal challenges to animal welfare laws, the major egg producers stopped fighting the movement toward a cage-free future more than a decade ago. They’ve opposed the EATS Act and similar efforts in Congress to unwind key state anti-confinement laws. They’ve not joined a single one of the pork industry’s cascade of legal actions.
And as I noted, the egg industry has invested billions in cage-free housing systems, responding to the clear preferences of consumers, retailers, and lawmakers across the country. More than 130 million hens — 45.7% of the national flock — are now in cage-free housing, up from just 4.4% in 2010. That’s more than tenfold growth in just 15 years. This is progress the DOJ is now recklessly trying to unwind.
We rely on state laws because there are no federal standards for the humane treatment of animals on farms. That’s the case even though Congress has had countless opportunities to establish baseline protections for chickens, pigs, and veal calves. Under pressure from industry lobbyists, it has consistently refused to do anything for the largest number of animals conscripted into use for human consumption.
So for the DOJ to claim that California’s standards are preempted by a federal law that doesn’t even address animal welfare is laughable on its face.
Even more outrageous: this lawsuit, if successful, would open the floodgates to eggs streaming in from Mexico, where there are no animal welfare protections for hens, compounding the risks for animals and threatening to undermine the operations of American farmers.
Is this the future of food and agriculture that we want in America? A moral race to the bottom. No standards of care or housing at all. Foreign nations supplying food items from animals jammed into cages and crates. The animals packed in like wine bottles or folding chairs. A production system grounded on the principles of overcrowding and immobilizing animals.
That’s a dystopian future for our food and agriculture policies and practices.
These are bad ideas for the country. They’re motivated by political gamesmanship, and they’re disconnected from any practical concern for consumers, farmers, and, most of all, for animals.
At a time when the American public is demanding more humane treatment of farm animals, the DOJ is spending your taxpayer dollars to roll back the clock on hard-won reforms that benefit animals, farmers, and consumers.
We fully expect the courts to dismiss this suit as they have other badly hatched ideas. But we are not taking any chances. We’re going to fight back with everything we’ve got — and we need your help to do it. [[link removed]]
DONATE [[link removed]]
Thank you for standing with us. All animals deserve humane treatment, including animals raised for food.
With resolve and appreciation,
Wayne Pacelle [[link removed]] Wayne Pacelle
President
Center for a Humane Economy
[[link removed]] DONATE NOW [[link removed]]
[[link removed]] WEBSITE [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]
Center for a Humane Economy | PO Box 30845 | Bethesda, MD 208243
If you would like to manage your subscription or contribution history, please log into your self-service portal here. [[link removed]]
If you need to you can unsubscribe here: unsubscribe: [link removed]
You can also click here to donate [[link removed]] .
Dear friend,
I am deeply disappointed by the outrageous and ill-considered legal maneuverings of the U.S. Department of Justice.
America’s lawyers are on the attack against our nation’s most important farm animal welfare laws, specifically a set of laws in California designed to halt the extreme confinement of laying hens trapped wing-to-wing in battery cages.
Late yesterday, DOJ attorneys launched a transparently political attack on California’s landmark animal welfare laws. The DOJ’s lawsuit seeks to overturn Proposition 2 and Proposition 12, along with AB 1437 — laws that had enormous popular support and helped trigger and then drive one of the most significant shifts in the treatment of animals raised for food in our nation.
DOJ Throws a Stink Bomb Into America’s Egg Farms
Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy are calling this lawsuit exactly what it is: a set of stink bombs tossed into the bosom of America’s egg farms — just as the industry is struggling to recover from a devastating avian influenza epidemic that has already resulted in the depopulation of 135 million laying hens.
This reckless legal maneuver aims to invalidate laws that require hens to have enough space to “stand up, turn around, and spread their wings” — a standard of decency and nothing with even the whiff of a radical notion. And yet somehow, these immensely popular laws and these fundamental principles are now the target of federal litigation by our own government.
The DOJ argues that California’s laws conflict with the Egg Products Inspection Act and are therefore “preempted” by federal law. But this argument is as flimsy as it is familiar. This line of argument advanced by extreme players in the world of animal agriculture has been repeatedly rejected by federal courts, including by federal appellate courts and by the U.S. Supreme Court. Two years ago, the high court upheld California’s Prop 12 as a proper exercise of state authority in NPPC v. Ross. Just over a week ago, the same Supreme Court turned away an offer to hear the case anew as brought by the Iowa Pork Producers.
Until yesterday, it seems that the industry had reached a dead end in the federal courts.
The American Egg Industry Will Treat This Lawsuit as a Threat to Its Producers
Here’s the kicker: the egg industry doesn’t even support this lawsuit. Far from it. The egg industry is quaking at the thought that such a lawsuit might succeed, undercutting its collective investment of billions of dollars to create more extensive housing systems for laying hens.
Unlike the pork industry, which has fought and lost 19 straight legal challenges to animal welfare laws, the major egg producers stopped fighting the movement toward a cage-free future more than a decade ago. They’ve opposed the EATS Act and similar efforts in Congress to unwind key state anti-confinement laws. They’ve not joined a single one of the pork industry’s cascade of legal actions.
And as I noted, the egg industry has invested billions in cage-free housing systems, responding to the clear preferences of consumers, retailers, and lawmakers across the country. More than 130 million hens — 45.7% of the national flock — are now in cage-free housing, up from just 4.4% in 2010. That’s more than tenfold growth in just 15 years. This is progress the DOJ is now recklessly trying to unwind.
We rely on state laws because there are no federal standards for the humane treatment of animals on farms. That’s the case even though Congress has had countless opportunities to establish baseline protections for chickens, pigs, and veal calves. Under pressure from industry lobbyists, it has consistently refused to do anything for the largest number of animals conscripted into use for human consumption.
So for the DOJ to claim that California’s standards are preempted by a federal law that doesn’t even address animal welfare is laughable on its face.
Even more outrageous: this lawsuit, if successful, would open the floodgates to eggs streaming in from Mexico, where there are no animal welfare protections for hens, compounding the risks for animals and threatening to undermine the operations of American farmers.
Is this the future of food and agriculture that we want in America? A moral race to the bottom. No standards of care or housing at all. Foreign nations supplying food items from animals jammed into cages and crates. The animals packed in like wine bottles or folding chairs. A production system grounded on the principles of overcrowding and immobilizing animals.
That’s a dystopian future for our food and agriculture policies and practices.
These are bad ideas for the country. They’re motivated by political gamesmanship, and they’re disconnected from any practical concern for consumers, farmers, and, most of all, for animals.
At a time when the American public is demanding more humane treatment of farm animals, the DOJ is spending your taxpayer dollars to roll back the clock on hard-won reforms that benefit animals, farmers, and consumers.
We fully expect the courts to dismiss this suit as they have other badly hatched ideas. But we are not taking any chances. We’re going to fight back with everything we’ve got — and we need your help to do it. [[link removed]]
DONATE [[link removed]]
Thank you for standing with us. All animals deserve humane treatment, including animals raised for food.
With resolve and appreciation,
Wayne Pacelle [[link removed]] Wayne Pacelle
President
Center for a Humane Economy
[[link removed]] DONATE NOW [[link removed]]
[[link removed]] WEBSITE [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]
Center for a Humane Economy | PO Box 30845 | Bethesda, MD 208243
If you would like to manage your subscription or contribution history, please log into your self-service portal here. [[link removed]]
If you need to you can unsubscribe here: unsubscribe: [link removed]
You can also click here to donate [[link removed]] .
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