Defending Missouri’s farm communities from aggressive over-regulation
Jefferson City, Mo. – Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley today announced his office will renew its efforts in the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge California’s attempt to impose agricultural regulations on the state of Missouri.
Missouri is challenging a California law requiring Missouri egg producers to comply with California’s farming regulations in order to sell eggs in California. The suit claims that California’s regulations violate both a federal law prohibiting states from imposing their own standards on eggs produced in other states and the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress exclusive authority to regulate commerce among and between states.
In 2016, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Missouri and the other plaintiff states lacked standing to pursue their claims. Today’s filing in the U.S. Supreme Court answers this by providing a careful economic analysis that establishes the impact of these burdensome regulations.
“These regulations are unconstitutional and a clear attempt by big-government proponents to impose job-killing regulations on Missouri,” Hawley said. “This discrimination against Missouri farmers will not stand. I will continue to defend our farmers and protect the interests of Missouri consumers.”
The state of Missouri is joined in the challenge by 11 other states: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wisconsin.
