The Trump administration is suing the state of California to dam animal welfare legal guidelines that it says unconstitutionally helped ship egg costs hovering. However a bunch that spearheaded the necessities pushed again, blaming hen flu for the hit to shoppers’ pocketbooks.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court docket in California on Wednesday, challenges voter initiatives that handed in 2018 and 2008. They require that each one eggs bought in California come from cage-free hens.
The Trump administration says the legislation imposes burdensome purple tape on the manufacturing of eggs and egg merchandise throughout the nation due to the state’s outsize function within the nationwide economic system.
“It’s one factor if California passes legal guidelines that impacts its personal State, it’s one other when these legal guidelines have an effect on different States in violation of the U.S. Structure,” U.S. Agriculture Brooke Rollins mentioned in a press release Thursday. “Fortunately, President Trump is standing up towards this overreach.”
Egg costs soared final 12 months and earlier this 12 months due largely to hen flu, which has compelled producers to destroy almost 175 million birds since early 2022. However costs have come down sharply lately. Whereas the Trump administration claims credit score for that, seasonal components are additionally essential. Avian influenza, which is unfold by wild birds, tends to spike through the spring and fall migrations and drop in summer season.
“Pointing fingers received’t change the very fact that it’s the President’s financial insurance policies which have been harmful,” the California Division of Justice mentioned in a press release Friday. “We’ll see him in court docket.”
The typical nationwide value for a dozen Grade A eggs declined to $5.12 in April and $4.55 in Might after reaching a report $6.23 in March, in line with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However the Might value was nonetheless 68.5% greater than a 12 months earlier.
“Trump’s again to his favourite pastime: blaming California for actually the whole lot,” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s workplace mentioned in a social media publish.
The federal grievance alleges that California contributed to the rise in egg costs with laws that compelled farmers throughout the nation to undertake dearer manufacturing practices. The lawsuit additionally asserts that it’s the federal authorities’s authorized prerogative to manage egg manufacturing. So it seeks to completely block enforcement of the California laws that flowed from the 2 poll measures.
“Individuals throughout the nation have suffered the implications of liberal insurance policies inflicting large inflation for on a regular basis objects like eggs,” Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi mentioned in a press release. “Beneath President Trump’s management, we are going to use the total extent of federal legislation to make sure that American households are free from oppressive regulatory burdens and restore American prosperity.”
Whereas 2018’s Proposition 12 additionally banned the sale of pork and veal in California from animals raised in cages that don’t meet minimal measurement necessities, the lawsuit solely focuses on the state’s egg guidelines.
Humane World for Animals, which was named the Humane Society of america when it spearheaded the passage of Proposition 12, says avian influenza and different components drove up egg costs, not animal welfare legal guidelines. And it says a lot of the U.S. egg business went cage-free anyway due to demand from shoppers who don’t need eggs from hens confined to tiny areas.
“California has prohibited the sale of cruelly produced eggs for greater than a decade — legislation that has been upheld by courts at each stage, together with the Supreme Court docket. Blaming 2025 egg costs on these established animal welfare requirements exhibits that this case is about pure politics, not constitutional legislation,” Sara Amundson, president of the Humane World Motion Fund, mentioned in a press release.
The American Egg Board, which represents the business, mentioned Friday that it’s going to monitor the progress of the lawsuit whereas persevering with to adjust to California’s legal guidelines, and that it appreciates Rollins’ efforts to assist farmers of their struggle towards hen flu and to stabilize the egg provide.
“Egg farmers have been each responsive and accountable in assembly altering demand for cage-free eggs, whereas supporting all varieties of egg manufacturing, and persevering with to supply choices within the egg case for shoppers,” the board mentioned in a press release.
