Animal activist offers the rest of the story on challenges to Question 3 and Prop 12
As CEO of Animal Wellness Action (AWA) and the Center for a Humane Economy (CHE), Wayne Pacelle frequently obtains intervenor status in federal court cases, such as those involving California’s Proposition 12. Outside of the courtroom, Pacelle, in a way, takes on the role of the late legendary radio storyteller Paul Harvey, ensuring that “the rest of the story” gets out.
Proposition 12 and Massachusetts’ similar Question 3 are controversial and have accumulated legal history because they prohibit the sale of certain chicken and pork products in their states to producers who fail to meet their housing standards.
In the recent filing against Prop 12 by pork producer Triumph Foods, the farmer-owned company’s “story” is that it is bringing new arguments from its success against Massachusetts Question 3.
“I don’t know how Triumph Foods views its failures in Federal Court as a success, but here is our reading of the court proceedings so far,” Pacelle said in an email to Food safety news.
“Triumph filed 10 complaints in its action against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts attempting to overturn Question 3. Nine of these counts were dismissed out of hand by the court. The remaining count under the dormant Commerce Clause was substantially resolved by the court on motions for summary judgment, with the only remaining question being whether the “slaughterhouse exception” contained in question 3 violated the dormant commerce clause.
“This provision exempted the sale of pork from FMIA-inspected pork processors in the state from the in-state sales ban,” he continued. “The court found that this narrow provision was discriminatory and in violation of the DCC. But striking down this provision alone actually expanded the state’s ban on the sale of cruelly confined pork and made Question 3 even more effective. Ironically, Triumph’s efforts were a victory for the large percentage of Massachusetts voters who voted yes on Question 3 to impose more humane standards to the pork industry.
“California Proposition 12 provides no comparable slaughterhouse exception. It prohibits the sale in California of pork from animals confined in a manner inconsistent with its minimum space requirements, whether the pork is slaughtered in the state or outside the state. There is no exception for California slaughterhouses as was the case in Massachusetts under Question 3. Triumph has appealed this decision, and it was not the action of a plaintiff that ‘won’ the case,” Pacelle added.
Pacelle explained that this was why he had a “quibble” with Food Safety News’ initial reporting on the Triumph Prop 12 lawsuit, which left the impression that his challenge to Question 3 was entirely successful.
AWA and CHE were recently granted intervenor status in the USDA’s federal court challenge to Proposition 12, which is separate from Triumph’s action. Pacelle was there when Proposition 12 was drafted, and since its overwhelming passage by California voters in 2018, nearly half of the nation’s egg farmers have adopted cage-free housing.
Egg farmers have spent billions to convert to battery cage systems, and in a sign they don’t want to go back, the Association of California Egg Farmers is also seeking to become an intervenor in the Proposition 12 case.
The USDA case concerns the egg provisions of Prop 12. The Triumph case concerns pork. Previous challenges to Prop 12 have been unsuccessful. The U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the Iowa Pork Producers Association’s Prop 12 lawsuit for the 9th Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court wouldn’t take up the case.
Pacelle has been a leading animal advocate for 35 years, starting as a student animal advocate at Yale. He is credited with crafting Question 3 and Prop 12.
His best-selling books are The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them, and The Humane Economy: How Innovators and Enlightened Consumers Are Transforming the Lives of Animals. He currently serves as president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy.
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