Attorney General Alan Wilson stands up for farmers: fights California’s power grab on pork

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced today that he has joined 22 other state attorneys general in filing a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case Iowa Pork Producers Association v. Bonta. This case challenges California’s Proposition 12, a law that imposes strict animal welfare regulations on pork producers across the country, regardless of the state that they operate in. 

“California’s Californication of our food supply is out of control—first, they come for pork, next, they’ll have us eating crickets. Proposition 12 is nothing more than a power grab by coastal elites who want to dictate how the rest of America farms, eats, and does business. South Carolina won’t stand by while they force their radical agenda on the entire country.” said Attorney General Wilson. 

The brief argues that California’s Proposition 12 Law: 

• Harms agricultural states and consumers by imposing costly regulations that raise pork prices nationwide. 

• Encourages economic protectionism by allowing one state to impose its regulatory preferences on others, creating a dangerous precedent that could lead to conflicting state mandates. 

• Violates the U.S. Constitution, including the Dormant Commerce Clause, Import-Export Clause, and Full Faith and Credit Clause. 

• Proposition 12 requires that all pork sold in California come from pigs raised under specific housing conditions but also requires these standards for pork produced in other states. Given California’s position as the largest consumer of pork in the nation while producing very little itself, the law effectively forces out-of-state farmers to comply with California’s regulations or be excluded from the market. 

“The Constitution was designed to prevent exactly this kind of economic balkanization,” Attorney General Wilson said. “If Proposition 12 is allowed to stand, it will set a dangerous precedent where states can impose their own regulatory will on others, leading to chaos in national markets.” 

The U.S. Supreme Court is being urged to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision, which declined to consider key constitutional issues raised by the petitioners. The coalition of attorneys general argues that the Supreme Court must step in to clarify the limits of state power and uphold the principles of free and fair interstate commerce. 

You can read the brief here.