A total of 20 states filed a brief with the Supreme Court supporting the North American Meat Institute’s petition challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 12 in California. “The governments of nearly half the states agree that if California is allowed to apply its laws of conduct in other states, a single state will dictate policies in all others,” says Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts. “That will encourage a patchwork of regulations and threaten the free flow of interstate commerce.” The brief before the Supreme Court says, “If Prop 12 freely permits California to impose regulations directly on out-of-state commercial conduct and thereby fosters inconsistent state regulatory obligations, it enables tit-for-tat regulatory conflict.” They say the ultimate result may be a transformation of America’s current integrated national market into a patchwork of regulatory regions. The main question in the case is whether the U.S. Constitution permits California to extend its police power beyond its territorial borders by banning the sale of wholesome pork and veal products sold into California unless out-of-state farmers restructure their facilities to meet animal-confinement standards dictated by California.

20 states support NAMI against Prop 12