The Supreme Court Upholds Proposition 12

California voters passed Proposition 12 in 2018, requiring that pork sold in the state come from breeding pigs given enough room to lie down, stand up, extend their limbs, and turn around. Because most pork eaten in California is raised out of state, hog farmers and their national trade group sued, arguing the law illegally reached across state lines to control how farms elsewhere operate. On May 11, 2023, the Supreme Court disagreed and let Proposition 12 stand, voting 5 to 4. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for a fractured majority that found nothing in the Constitution stopping a state from deciding what it will sell within its own borders, even when that choice ripples through an industry that spans the country.