California wants to regulate your bacon

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Instead of consuming less pork raised in ways it doesn’t like, California has imposed its will on other states.

California defends its law in part by hiding behind the principle of judicial restraint and in part by downplaying the law’s practical effects out of state.

Telling the rest of the country that they can’t eat meat unless California is happy about it is a step too far.

Imagine that a friend of yours wants to lose 10 pounds. You might advise your friend to diet, avoid unhealthy foods, and exercise more. You might even offer some unconventional tips, like sleeping regularly or keeping a daily gratitude journal.

But what if you went to all the stores in your state and told the owners that your friend must not be sold junk food? Or went to all the nearby gyms and told the owners that they must offer a weight-loss program specific to your friend?

Now we’re getting into the realm of the absurd, and rightly so. Your principles and desires, however justified they may seem, do not give you the right to force others to obey your will.

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This scenario is playing out in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, which the Supreme Court will hear next term. The case involves a California law, Proposition 12, that regulates the confinement of farm animals, including pigs, and was approved by more than 62% of California voters.

It is all well and good for Californians to decide that their pork must come from pigs raised in a supposedly more humane way. But instead of consuming less pork raised in ways it doesn’t like, California has imposed its will on other states. Because California imports most of its pork from other parts of America, Proposition 12 ends up regulating pork producers across the country. In fact, because the state imports a whopping 99.87% of its pork, the law has more of an impact outside the Golden State than inside.

This is nanny-statism on steroids. It’s as if one of 50 children appointed herself nanny and decided how the other 49 should be allowed to play.

The good news is, there are rules that forbid these sorts of shenanigans.

The Constitution’s commerce clause states that only Congress has the power to “regulate commerce … among the several states.” The Supreme Court has interpreted this to mean that state laws that attempt to regulate interstate commerce are unconstitutional.

This so-called dormant commerce power has invalidated state regulations many times. In 1945, the Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law that limited the size of freight trains because “the practical effect of such regulation is to control beyond the boundaries of the state … ”

In 1970, however, the court complicated this straightforward doctrine by establishing a balancing test stating that if local benefits come from the regulation, then the “incidental consequences” of that regulation may be justified, even if they interfere with interstate commerce.

These twin questions of external effects and compelling state interests are the battle lines along which the two sides in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross are arguing over Proposition 12.

California defends its law in part by hiding behind the principle of judicial restraint and in part by downplaying the law’s practical effects out of state.

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Comments (1)

It's not the only attempt to force West Coast and East Coast stuff on us (and the rest of their states. Where did the plumbing change to 1.25 pipes come from? Or restricted flow? Here we sit in the Mississippi Valley and are dictated to by those in LA, which should, indeed, be a desert. As usual, dictatorship of the majority isn't even the majority (they remain silent).
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Willy3411

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