EA - The Implications of the US Supreme Court upholding Prop 12 by ishankhire

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: The Implications of the US Supreme Court upholding Prop 12, published by ishankhire on May 13, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.Background: Farming Conditions and Prop 12Currently in the US, most breeding pigs live in factory farmers, where they are confined in gestation crates which are small metal cages so small that pigs can’t even turn around, while egg-laying hens live in tiny, cramped battery cages that cause a range of psychological and physiological harm. The crowded conditions also have potential health harms by increasing the stress levels of pigs and weakening their immune systems, which can make them more susceptible to zoonotic diseases that may spread to humans.Starting in the early 2000s, a few animal welfare groups including the Humane Society of the Unites States aimed to ban the farming system of cages for hens, breeding pigs and veal calves. In 2008, Proposition 2 was passed which put in place a “production” ban on cages, which said that producers had to ensure pigs, hens, and calves could lie down, turn around, and extend their limbs or wings without hitting the side of an enclosure. However, this specific language allowed some egg farms to circumvent the law by using bigger cages. In 2010, California passed AB 1437 which was a “sales” ban requiring all eggs sold in California had to meet those standards. These laws have brought about results — the share of hens that are cage-free has been rising and is expected to continue doing so.In 2018, over 62% of California voters passed Proposition 12, the strongest law to improve conditions for farmed animals. Under Prop 12, some of the gaps in these laws are covered — for one, it extends the cage-free ban to cover not just the eggs that are sold in the grocery store (shell eggs) but also liquid eggs, which are sold to restaurants, cafeterias and food manufacturers (liquid eggs).Opposition from Pork IndustryThe law is expected to be especially impactful to the pork industry which has been more resistant to change in doing away with confinement systems. Progress has been very mixed in terms of companies following through with their commitments to phase out gestation crates. So far, 10 states have banned them, but Prop 12’s space requirements are stricter and close some gaps that allow for loopholes. The law also makes it illegal for eggs and pork to be sold in California if the animals in other states are put in gestation crates (pigs) or battery cages (for chickens). California consumes 14% of the US’s pork and 12% of eggs and veal, so pork and egg producers would be forced to modify barns or construct new ones (only 1% of existing sow housing meets Prop 12’s standards according to the National Pork Producers Council (NPCC)), which would be costly and time taking, causing various meat trade groups to be opposed to it.Interestingly, some industries such as Whole Foods, aren’t concerned with the law as they claim they already meet animal welfare requirements. I think this is a crucial reason why the phase out of battery cages did not get as much opposition to phasing out pork crates — many companies already have commitments to phase out battery cage. In fact, these companies may have the incentive to increase regulations to raise costs on competitors.For this reason, the law was attacked by various meat industry trade groups, which filed three separate lawsuits to overturn it. The Supreme Court declined to take two of them, and in October 2022, the case National Pork Producers v. Ross began.Explaining the Supreme Court RulingOn May 11th, 2023, the Supreme Court upheld Prop 12 in a 5-4 decision of the case National Pork Producers v. Ross. Interestingly, the verdict was not split along conservative-liberal lines, with 3 conservative judges and 2 liberal judges in the majority.The pork industry ...