Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy applaud the ruling and call on DOJ and USDA to abandon their assault on state laws to stop torture of farm animals
WASHINGTON – Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy today applauded a federal court decision dismissing the U.S. Department of Justice’s misguided and poorly reasoned lawsuit challenging Michigan’s ban on the sale of eggs from hens confined in extreme cages. In United States v. Michigan, Judge Jane M. Beckering of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan ruled today that the federal government failed to establish standing and dismissed the case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
The DOJ had argued that Michigan’s law is preempted by the Egg Products Inspection Act (EPIA), which is a food safety law, not a humane-treatment statute. The court never reached that question, however, finding that the United States had not alleged any concrete injury. The opinion notes that the complaint offered no allegations that Michigan’s law interferes with the federal government’s own enforcement of the EPIA. The court also observed that the EPIA was designed to protect consumers from unwholesome or mislabeled eggs, yet DOJ sought to strike down a state law designed in part to protect the health and safety of humans.
“Confinement of hens in battery cages on farms is inhumane for the animals, less safe for consumers, and expensive for taxpayers, who foot the bill when millions of hens are depopulated because disease spread wipes out entire flocks,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. “In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld laws like Michigan’s anti-confinement statute and settled the matter of state authority to enact these types of laws. The federal government should stop shilling for factory farmers who don’t give a damn about people or animals.”
Michigan’s law, part of the state’s Animal Husbandry Industry Act, requires that egg-laying hens have adequate space and prohibits the in-state sale of eggs produced in a manner that violates those standards. Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy were among the groups that intervened in the case to help defend the law.
“The court has spoken clearly, and DOJ should accept this decision,” said Kate Schultz, senior attorney for the Center for a Humane Economy. “There is no reason to pour more federal resources and taxpayer dollars into a meritless campaign against state laws that voters and legislatures enacted and that the courts have repeatedly upheld. At a time when the administration says it’s focused on efficiency, continuing this fight would be a waste of public money.”
Congress Must Reject the Save Our Bacon Act
The dismissal comes as the Save Our Bacon Act remains in play during Farm bill discussions. The measure is a sweeping federal overreach designed to nullify voter-approved laws to provide minimal protections for farm animals.
“Factory farming interests keep losing – at the ballot box, in state legislatures, and in the federal courts,” Pacelle added. “It would be outrageous for Congress to insert a provision in a massive bill to unwind states’ rights and return America to the age of extreme confinement of animals on factory farms.”
In 2010, just 4.4% of laying hens, or 12.2 million birds, lived in cage-free environments across the United States. Now that number is 46%, and the number of laying hens in cage-free environments exceeds 130 million. “There’s been 10X growth for cage-free production in the last 15 years because that’s what consumers and food retailers are increasingly demanding,” noted Pacelle. “The egg industry has responded and invested billions in more extensive housing systems. This lawsuit wants to send Americans back to the drawing board on farm animal welfare, causing harm to all key stakeholders, including the animals at the center of the business.”
In March, a U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruling tossed a nearly identical U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the State of California’s landmark series of laws forbidding cage confinement of laying hens and the sale of eggs from confined hens. Factory farm interests and the federal government have found themselves on the losing side of 25 straight cases in this policy area, including NPPC v. Ross in 2023.