In a historic day for animals and California voters, the Supreme Court of the United States has upheld Proposition 12. The law, enacted in 2018 by voter initiative with nearly two-thirds support, protects pregnant mother pigs from extreme confinement. It also bans the use of veal crates (for calves), battery cages (for egg-laying hens), and prohibits the sale of products from such inhumane systems in the state of California.

In gestation crates, pregnant pigs are confined so tightly that they cannot walk, stretch their limbs, or even turn around, suffering both physically and psychologically and spending much of their pregnancy in extreme discomfort. Today’s Supreme Court ruling protects not only mother pigs in California, but also the rights of voters to reject these cruel practices.

The Supreme Court affirmed voters’ rights to prioritize animal well-being and human health over agribusiness profits:

“On the one hand, some out-of-state producers who choose to comply with Proposition 12 may incur new costs. On the other hand, the law serves moral and health interests of some (disputable) magnitude for in-state residents…How should we settle that dispute? …Your guess is as good as ours. More accurately, your guess is better than ours. In a functioning democracy, policy choices like these usually belong to the people and their elected representatives.”

Farm Sanctuary was an intervenor in this case, as part of a coalition of nonprofit organizations urging SCOTUS to uphold the law, led by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), and including Animal Equity, Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), Animal Outlook, Compassion in World Farming USA, and The Humane League. Farm Sanctuary has worked for decades to give farm animals a voice in the legal system, including with the first successful ballot initiative that passed in Florida in 2002 to ban gestation crates.

“Like all animals, farm animals have feelings, and they deserve to be treated with kindness and respect. Citizens in California and other states have consistently voted to outlaw the extreme and inhumane confinement of animals in cages and crates on factory farms, and we are very grateful that the Supreme Court of the United States, like other courts before it, has affirmed California’s compassion and upheld Prop 12. Kindness to other animals is not only good for the animals, it’s also good for us,” reflected Gene Baur, Co-Founder and President of Farm Sanctuary. “This decision is a critical step in the fight to protect farm animals and the expressed interests of California voters.”

Industry insiders, however, don’t appear to be happy with the ruling. “This is a major blow to pork and the ag sector,” wrote Pro Farmer analyst Jim Wiesemeyer. “The ruling could force pork producers to implement costly changes to keep selling in the country’s most populous state.”

Factory farm interests from agricultural states have been fighting voters for decades. Producers want to continue using methods that Prop 12 bans, despite voters’ clear rejections of the resulting immense harms. In one case, brought by the North American Meat Institute, Plaintiffs lost at both the trial and appellate levels, and SCOTUS declined to hear the case. An additional challenge was brought by the Iowa Pork Producers Association. After losing at the lower court and intermediate appellate levels, all parties agreed to wait on next steps until after SCOTUS made its decision in today’s Prop 12 case.

Pushback against Prop 12 reflects a long history of industry work to undermine any law that serves farm animals. Farm Sanctuary and our allies have supported and defended laws that fight animal cruelty for over three decades. Following years of unsuccessful legislative attempts, we joined forces with HSUS to strengthen our call against inhumane confinement. In 2002, we co-led a successful ballot initiative — Florida’s Amendment 10 — to ban the use of gestation crates for pigs.

Amendment 10 was the first initiative in the country to outlaw a factory farm confinement practice. In addition to lessening cruelty, Amendment 10 enshrined language in the Florida Constitution that refers to a female pig as a “she,” not an “it.” It’s a key example of our ongoing effort to have farm animals recognized as living, feeling animals — not units of production.