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Missouri joins amicus brief opposing California’s Prop 12

Missouri and 14 other states have announced an amicus brief in the lawsuit filed by the National Pork Producers Council and American Farm Bureau against California’s Proposition 12.

Amicus briefs are legal documents filed in appellate court cases by non-litigants with a strong interest in the case.

Prop 12, slated to go into law in 2021, requires changes to sow housing from pork that comes from outside California.

Missouri attorney general Eric Schmitt says farmers and ranchers shouldn’t be subjected to burdensome regulations just to do business in California.

The brief is led by Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, who argues the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause prohibits California’s attempt to supplant other states’ authority to adopt their own animal husbandry policies.