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The Trump administration filed a lawsuit against California, claiming the state’s laws and regulations are contributing to higher egg prices.
The Justice Department alleged Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and other state officials of violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
In its complaint, the Justice Department alleges that “unnecessary red tape” is increasing egg prices nationwide.
“California has effectively prevented farmers across the country from using a number of agricultural production methods which were in widespread use and which helped keep eggs affordable,” the Justice Department said in the complaint, according to CBS News.
BREAKING: Trump admin SUES California over high egg prices
Lawsuit claims that the state’s anti-animal cruelty laws created “unnecessary red tape” that raised egg prices throughout the U.S.
California law requires farmers to provide extra space for each chicken so they have… pic.twitter.com/dsnL1IpB6S
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 10, 2025
More from CBS News:
Two California ballot initiatives, passed in 2008 and 2018, mandate higher standards and housing requirements for hen-laying chickens and eggs sold in the state, requiring the birds to be given enough space to extend their limbs and move without touching another bird.
The 2018 ballot initiative also bars hens from being kept in any “enclosure other than a cage-free housing system” and mandates space requirements for breeding pigs and calves raised for veal.
Those laws, the Trump administration alleges, are preempted by the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and the Egg Products Inspection Act, which was passed in 1970. The Trump administration also cites data that showed in the years after the first major restriction was passed, egg production in the state decreased and egg prices increased by 20%.
California’s requirements, the Justice Department says, “were driven by activists’ conception of what qualifies as ‘cruel’ animal housing, not by consumer purchasing decisions or scientifically based food safety or animal welfare standards.”
Supporters of California’s laws, like the Humane Society of the United States, argue they protect farm animals from being “locked in cruel and extreme confinement.” In many cases, egg-laying hens are confined to tiny cages.
The complaint also alleges that “California’s egg standards do not advance consumer welfare.”
“With respect to California’s most recent voter initiative imposing new standards of egg quality, Proposition 12, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has stated in its regulatory analysis that despite the initiative’s purported concern for consumer ‘health and safety,’ the egg standards ‘are not based in specific peer-reviewed published scientific literature or accepted as standards within the scientific community to reduce human food-borne illness,” the complaint read, according to Fox Business.
Trump administration lawsuit cracks down on California’s egg production regulations https://t.co/EJEWDDucBq
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) July 10, 2025
Fox Business noted:
Additional regulations included providing a minimum of one square foot of usable floor space per hen for multi-tiered and partially slatted systems, and a minimum of 1.5 square feet of usable floor space per hen in single-level floor systems.
The regulations also define a “cage-free housing system” as “an indoor or outdoor controlled environment for egg-laying hens within which hens are free to roam unrestricted; are provided enrichments that allow them to exhibit natural behaviors, including, at a minimum, scratch areas, perches, nest boxes, and dust bathing areas; and within which farm employees can provide care while standing within the hens’ useable floorspace.”
Sales of eggs in California that do not comply with California regulations are considered criminal offenses that carry a penalty of up to a $1,000 fine and 180 days in jail. Violations are also considered “unfair competition,” which could result in civil action for damages.
“Bureaucratic red tape and unnecessary regulations implemented by the State of California have made the cost of everyday goods, like eggs, less affordable for Americans,” U.S. Civil Division Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said. “This Department of Justice will work to free consumers from this regulatory burden and bring economic prosperity to families.”