Agricultural organizations Friday filed a brief asking the US Supreme Court to strike down California’s Proposition 12, which bans in-state sales of whole pork meat from pigs born to mothers who were kept in confined housing.

Proposition 12’s confined pig housing standard is a pig “that was housed with 24 square feet of space and in conditions that allow the sow to turn around without touching her enclosure.”

The groups argued that the law violates the US Constitution’s dormant Commerce Clause. The argument used is that “California has no valid justification for that interference with out-of-state commerce” and “Proposition 12 will transform the pork industry nationwide.” Additionally, the organizations argued that “[h]ardly any commercially bred sows are housed with that much space, including those raised in group pens[.]”

Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, expressed her confidence in the top court upholding Proposition 12. Block stated, “The Court has repeatedly affirmed the states’ rights to enact laws protecting animals, public health and safety, and the pork industry should focus on eliminating cruel caging of animals rather than attacking popular, voter-passed animal cruelty laws.”