PRELIMINARY PRINT 

Volume 598 U. S. Part 2 

Pages 356–410 

OFFICIAL REPORTS 

OF 

THE SUPREME COURT 

May 11, 2023 

REBECCA A. WOMELDORF 

reporter of decisions 

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NOTICE: This preliminary print is subject to formal revision before 

the bound volume is published. Users are requested to notify the Reporter 

of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C. 20543, 

pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors. 
356 OCTOBER TERM, 2022 

Syllabus 

NATIONAL PORK PRODUCERS COUNCIL et al. v. 

ROSS, SECRETARY OF THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE, et al. 

certiorari to the united states court of appeals for 

the ninth circuit 

No. 21–468. Argued October 11, 2022—Decided May 11, 2023 

This case involves a challenge to a California law known as Proposition 

12, which as relevant here forbids the in-state sale of whole pork meat 

that comes from breeding pigs (or their immediate offspring) that are 

“confined in a cruel manner.” Cal. Health & Safety Code Ann. 

§ 25990(b)(2). Confnement is “cruel” if it prevents a pig from “lying 

down, standing up, fully extending [its] limbs, or turning around freely.” 

§ 25991(e)(1). Prior to the vote on Proposition 12, proponents suggested 

the law would beneft animal welfare and consumer health, and opponents claimed that existing farming practices did better than Proposition 12 protecting animal welfare (for example, by preventing pig-on-pig 

aggression) and ensuring consumer health (by avoiding contamination). 

Shortly after Proposition 12's adoption, two organizations—the National 

Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation 

(petitioners)—fled this lawsuit on behalf of their members who raise 

and process pigs alleging that Proposition 12 violates the U. S. Constitution by impermissibly burdening interstate commerce. Petitioners estimated that the cost of compliance with Proposition 12 will increase 

production costs and will fall on both California and out-of-state producers. But because California imports almost all the pork it consumes, 

most of Proposition 12's compliance costs will be borne by out-of-state 

frms. The district court held that petitioners' complaint failed to state 

a claim as a matter of law and dismissed the case. The Ninth Circuit 

affrmed. 

Held: The judgment of the Ninth Circuit is affrmed. 

6 F. 4th 1021, affrmed. 

Justice Gorsuch delivered the opinion of the Court, except as to 

Parts IV–B, IV–C, and IV–D, rejecting petitioners' theories that would 

place Proposition 12 in violation of the dormant Commerce Clause even 

though petitioners do not allege the law purposefully discriminates 

against out-of-state economic interests. Pp. 368–380, 389–391. 

(a) The Constitution vests Congress with the power to “regulate 

Commerce . . . among the several States.” Art. I, § 8, cl. 3. Although 

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Congress may seek to exercise this power to regulate the interstate 

trade of pork, and many pork producers have urged Congress to do so, 

Congress has yet to adopt any statute that might displace Proposition 

12 or laws regulating pork production in other States. Petitioners' litigation theory thus rests on the dormant Commerce Clause theory, pursuant to which the Commerce Clause not only vests Congress with the 

power to regulate interstate trade, but also “contain[s] a further, negative command,” one effectively forbidding the enforcement of “certain 

state [economic regulations] even when Congress has failed to legislate 

on the subject.” Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Jefferson Lines, Inc., 514 

U. S. 175, 179. This Court has held that state laws offend this dormant 

aspect of the Commerce Clause when they seek to “build up . . . domestic 

commerce” through “burdens upon the industry and business of other 

States.” Guy v. Baltimore, 100 U. S. 434, 443. At the same time, 

though, the Court has reiterated that, absent purposeful discrimination, 

“a State may exclude from its territory, or prohibit the sale therein of 

any articles which, in its judgment, fairly exercised, are prejudicial to” 

the interests of its citizens. Ibid. 

The antidiscrimination principle lies at the “very core” of the Court's 

dormant Commerce Clause jurisprudence. Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison, 520 U. S. 564, 581. This Court has 

said that the Commerce Clause prohibits the enforcement of state laws 

“driven by . . . `economic protectionism—that is, regulatory measures 

designed to beneft in-state economic interests by burdening out-of-state 

competitors.' ” Department of Revenue of Ky. v. Davis, 553 U. S. 328, 

337–338 (quoting New Energy Co. of Ind. v. Limbach, 486 U. S. 269, 273– 

274). Petitioners here disavow any discrimination-based claim, conceding that Proposition 12 imposes the same burdens on in-state pork 

producers that it imposes on out-of-state pork producers. Pp. 368–371. 

(b) Given petitioners' concession that Proposition 12 does not implicate the antidiscrimination principle, petitioners frst invoke what they 

call the “extraterritoriality doctrine.” They contend that the Court's 

dormant Commerce Clause cases suggest an additional and “almost 

per se” rule forbidding enforcement of state laws that have the “practical effect of controlling commerce outside the State,” even when those 

laws do not purposely discriminate against out-of-state interests. Petitioners further insist that Proposition 12 offends this “almost per se” 

rule because the law will impose substantial new costs on out-of-state 

pork producers who wish to sell their products in California. Petitioners contend the rule they propose follows ineluctably from three cases: 

Healy v. Beer Institute, 491 U. S. 324; Brown-Forman Distillers Corp. 

v. New York State Liquor Authority, 476 U. S. 573; and Baldwin v. 

G. A. F. Seelig, Inc., 294 U. S. 511. But a close look at those cases 
358 NATIONAL PORK PRODUCERS COUNCIL v. ROSS 

Syllabus 

reveals that each typifes the familiar concern with preventing purposeful discrimination against out-of-state economic interests. In Baldwin, 

a New York law that barred out-of-state dairy farmers from selling their 

milk in the State for less than the minimum price New York law guaranteed in-state producers “plainly discriminate[d]” against out-of-staters 

by “erecting an economic barrier protecting a major local industry 

against competition from without the State.” Dean Milk Co. v. Madison, 340 U. S. 349, 354 (discussing Baldwin). In Brown-Forman, a New 

York law that required liquor distillers to affrm that their in-state 

prices were no higher than their out-of-state prices impermissibly 

sought to force out-of-state distillers to “surrender” whatever cost advantages they enjoyed against their in-state rivals, which amounted to 

economic protectionism. 476 U. S., at 580. 

The Court reached a similar conclusion in Healy, which involved a 

Connecticut law that required out-of-state beer merchants to affrm that 

their in-state prices were no higher than those they charged in neighboring States. 491 U. S., at 328–330. As the Court later explained, 

“[t]he essential vice in laws” like Connecticut's is that they “hoard” commerce “for the beneft of” in-state merchants and discourage consumers 

from crossing state lines to make their purchases from nearby out-ofstate vendors. C & A Carbone, Inc. v. Clarkstown, 511 U. S. 383, 

391–392. 

Petitioners insist that Baldwin, Brown-Forman, and Healy taken together suggest an “almost per se” rule against state laws with “extraterritorial effects.” While petitioners point to language in these cases 

pertaining to the “practical effect” of the challenged laws on out-of-state 

commerce and prices, “the language of an opinion is not always to be 

parsed as though we were dealing with language of a statute.” Reiter 

v. Sonotone Corp., 442 U. S. 330, 341. The language highlighted by petitioners in Baldwin, Brown-Forman, and Healy appeared in a particular 

context and did particular work. A close look at those cases reveals 

nothing like the “almost per se” rule against laws that have the “practical effect” of “controlling” extraterritorial commerce that petitioners 

posit, and indeed petitioners' reading would cast a shadow over laws 

long understood to represent valid exercises of the States' constitutionally reserved powers. Baldwin, Brown-Forman, and Healy did not 

mean to do so much. In rejecting petitioners' “almost per se” theory 

the Court does not mean to trivialize the role territory and sovereign 

boundaries play in the federal system; the Constitution takes great care 

to provide rules for fxing and changing state borders. Art. IV, § 3, 

cl. 1. Courts must sometimes referee disputes about where one State's 

authority ends and another's begins—both inside and outside the commercial context. Indeed, the antidiscrimination principle found in the 

Court's dormant Commerce Clause cases may well represent one more 

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effort to mediate competing claims of sovereign authority under our horizontal separation of powers. But none of this means, as petitioners suppose, that any question about the ability of a State to project its power 

extraterritorially must yield to an “almost per se” rule under the dormant Commerce Clause. This Court has never before claimed so much 

“ground for judicial supremacy under the banner of the dormant Commerce Clause.” United Haulers Assn., Inc. v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid 

Waste Management Authority, 550 U. S. 330, 346–347. Pp. 371–376. 

(c) Petitioners next point to Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U. S. 137, 

which they assert requires a court to at least assess “ `the burden imposed on interstate commerce' ” by a state law and prevent its enforcement if the law's burdens are “ `clearly excessive in relation to the putative local benefts.' ” Brief for Petitioners 44. Petitioners provide a 

litany of reasons why they believe the benefts Proposition 12 secures 

for Californians do not outweigh the costs it imposes on out-of-state 

economic interests. 

Petitioners overstate the extent to which Pike and its progeny depart 

from the antidiscrimination rule that lies at the core of the Court's dormant Commerce Clause jurisprudence. As this Court has previously 

explained, “no clear line” separates the Pike line of cases from core 

antidiscrimination precedents. General Motors Corp. v. Tracy, 519 

U. S. 278, 298, n. 12. If some cases focus on whether a state law discriminates on its face, the Pike line serves as an important reminder 

that a law's practical effects may also disclose the presence of a discriminatory purpose. Pike itself concerned an Arizona order requiring cantaloupes grown in state to be processed and packed in state. 397 U. S., 

at 138–140. The Court held that Arizona's order violated the dormant 

Commerce Clause, stressing that even if that order could be fairly characterized as facially neutral, it “requir[ed] business operations to be performed in [state] that could more effciently be performed elsewhere.” 

Id., at 145. The “practical effect[s]” of the order in operation thus revealed a discriminatory purpose—an effort to insulate in-state processing and packaging businesses from out-of-state competition. Id., at 140. 

While this Court has left the “courtroom door open” to challenges premised on “even nondiscriminatory burdens,” Davis, 553 U. S., at 353, and 

while “a small number of our cases have invalidated state laws . . . that 

appear to have been genuinely nondiscriminatory,” Tracy, 519 U. S., at 

298, n. 12, petitioners' claim about Proposition 12 falls well outside 

Pike's heartland. Pp. 377–380. 

(d) The Framers equipped Congress with considerable power to regulate interstate commerce and preempt contrary state laws. See U. S. 

Const., Art. I, § 8, cl. 3; Art. IV, § 2. While this Court has inferred an 

additional judicially enforceable rule against certain state laws adopted 

even against the backdrop of congressional silence, the Court's cases 
360 NATIONAL PORK PRODUCERS COUNCIL v. ROSS 

Syllabus 

also suggest extreme caution is warranted in its exercise. Disavowing 

reliance on this Court's core dormant Commerce Clause teachings focused on discriminatory state legislation, petitioners invite the Court to 

endorse new theories of implied judicial power. They would have the 

Court recognize an “almost per se” rule against the enforcement of state 

laws that have “extraterritorial effects”—even though it has long recognized that virtually all state laws create ripple effects beyond their borders. Alternatively, they would have the Court prevent a State from 

regulating the sale of an ordinary consumer good within its own borders 

on nondiscriminatory terms—even though the Pike line of cases they 

invoke has never before yielded such a result. Like the courts that 

faced this case below, this Court declines both incautious invitations. 

Pp. 389–391. 

Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Thomas and Justice Barrett, concluded in Part IV–B that, accepting petitioners' allegations, 

the Pike balancing task that they propose in this case is one no court 

is equipped to undertake. Some out-of-state producers who choose to 

comply with Proposition 12 may incur new costs, while the law serves 

moral and health interests of some magnitude for in-state residents. In 

a functioning democracy, those sorts of policy choices—balancing competing, incommensurable goods—belong to the people and their elected 

representatives. Pp. 380–383. 

Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Thomas, Justice Sotomayor, 

and Justice Kagan, concluded in Part IV–C that the allegations in the 

complaint were insuffcient as a matter of law to demonstrate a substantial burden on interstate commerce, a showing Pike requires before a 

court may assess the law's competing benefts or weigh the two sides 

against each other, and that the facts pleaded merely allege harm to 

some producers' favored “methods of operation” which the Court found 

insuffcient to state a claim in Exxon Corp. v. Governor of Maryland, 

437 U. S. 117, 127. Pp. 383–387. 

Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Thomas and Justice Barrett, concluded in Part IV–D that petitioners have not asked the Court 

to treat putative harms to out-of-state animal welfare or other noneconomic interests as freestanding harms cognizable under the dormant 

Commerce Clause, and in any event that the Court's decisions authorizing claims alleging “burdens on commerce,” Davis, 553 U. S., at 353, do 

not provide judges “a roving license” to reassess the wisdom of state 

legislation in light of any conceivable out-of-state interest, economic or 

otherwise, United Haulers, 550 U. S., at 343. Pp. 387–389. 

Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Kagan, concluded that the 

judgment should be affrmed, not because courts are incapable of balancing economic burdens against noneconomic benefts as Pike requires or 

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because of any other fundamental reworking of that doctrine, but because petitioners fail to plausibly allege a substantial burden on interstate commerce as required by Pike. Pp. 391–393. 

Justice Barrett concluded that the judgment should be affrmed 

because Pike balancing requires both the benefts and burdens of a 

state law to be judicially cognizable and comparable, see Department of 

Revenue of Ky. v. Davis, 553 U. S. 328, 354–355, but the benefts and 

burdens of Proposition 12 are incommensurable; that said, the complaint 

plausibly alleges a substantial burden on interstate commerce because 

Proposition 12's costs are pervasive, burdensome, and will be felt primarily (but not exclusively) outside California. Pp. 393–394. 

Gorsuch, J., announced the judgment of the Court, and delivered the 

opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, III, IV–A, and V, in which 

Thomas, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Barrett, JJ., joined, an opinion with 

respect to Parts IV–B and IV–D, in which Thomas and Barrett, JJ., 

joined, and an opinion with respect to Part IV–C, in which Thomas, Sotomayor, and Kagan, JJ., joined. Sotomayor, J., fled an opinion concurring in part, in which Kagan, J., joined, post, p. 391. Barrett, J., fled an 

opinion concurring in part, post, p. 393. Roberts, C. J., fled an opinion 

concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which Alito, Kavanaugh, 

and Jackson, JJ., joined, post, p. 394. Kavanaugh, J., fled an opinion 

concurring in part and dissenting in part, post, p. 403. 

Timothy S. Bishop argued the cause for petitioners. 

With him on the briefs were Brett E. Legner, Avi M. Kupfer, 

Dan Himmelfarb, Michael C. Formica, Ellen Steen, and 

Travis Cushman. 

Deputy Solicitor General Kneedler argued the cause for 

the United States as amicus curiae urging reversal. With 

him on the brief were Solicitor General Prelogar, Michael 

R. Huston, Michael S. Raab, and Thomas Pulham. 

Michael J. Mongan, Solicitor General of California, argued 

the cause for the state respondents. With him on the brief 

were Rob Bonta, Attorney General of California, Thomas 

S. Patterson, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Samuel T. 

Harbourt, Deputy Solicitor General, R. Matthew Wise and 

Mark R. Beckington, Supervising Deputy Attorneys General, and Nicole Welindt, Associate Deputy Solicitor 

General. 
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362 NATIONAL PORK PRODUCERS COUNCIL v. ROSS 

Counsel 

Jeffrey A. Lamken argued the cause for respondents 

Humane Society of the United States et al. With him on 

the brief were Michael G. Pattillo, Jr., Caleb Hayes-Deats, 

Bruce Wagman, and Jonathan Lovvorn.* 

*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were fled for the State of Indiana et al. by Theodore E. Rokita, Attorney General of Indiana, Thomas 

M. Fisher, Solicitor General, and Julia C. Payne and Melinda R. Holmes, 

Deputy Attorneys General, and by the Attorneys General for their respective States as follows: Steve Marshall of Alabama, Mark Brnovich of Arizona, Leslie Rutledge of Arkansas, Christopher M. Carr of Georgia, Lawrence Wasden of Idaho, Tom Miller of Iowa, Derek Schmidt of Kansas, 

Daniel Cameron of Kentucky, Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Lynn Fitch of 

Mississippi, Eric Schmitt of Missouri, Austin Knudsen of Montana, Doug 

Peterson of Nebraska, John Formella of New Hampshire, Drew Wrigley 

of North Dakota, Dave Yost of Ohio, John M. O'Connor of Oklahoma, Alan 

Wilson of South Carolina, Jason R. Ravnsborg of South Dakota, Herbert 

H. Slatery III of Tennessee, Ken Paxton of Texas, Sean D. Reyes of Utah, 

Jason Miyares of Virginia, Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia, and 

Bridget Hill of Wyoming; for the American Association of Swine Veterinarians by Aaron D. Van Oort, Tyler A. Young, Nicholas J. Nelson, and 

Lance W. Lange; for the Association des Éleveurs de Canards et d'Oies 

du Québec et al. by Michael Tenenbaum; for the Association for Accessible 

Medicines by Jay P. Lefkowitz and Matthew D. Rowen; for the Buckeye 

Institute by Larry J. Obhof, Jr., and Robert Alt; for the Canadian Pork 

Council et al. by Roy T. Englert, Jr.; for the Chamber of Commerce of the 

United States of America by Steffen N. Johnson and Michael W. McConnell; for the National Association of Manufacturers et al. by Sean Marotta, 

Patrick Hedren, and Karen R. Harned; for the National Taxpayers Union 

Foundation by Joseph D. Henchman and Tyler Martinez; for the North 

American Meat Institute by Paul J. Zidlicky and Eric D. McArthur; for 

the North Carolina Chamber Legal Institute et al. by Gene C. Schaerr and 

Erik S. Jaffe; for the Pacifc Legal Foundation by Deborah J. La Fetra 

and Aditya Dynar; for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of 

America by Allon Kedem, Jeffrey L. Handwerker, James C. Stansel, Melissa B. Kimmel, and Joanne Chan; for Protect the Harvest by Ira T. 

Kasdan; for the Retail Litigation Center, Inc., et al. by Beth S. Brinkmann, Deborah White, and Angelo I. Amador; for the State Pork Producers Association of Iowa et al. by Eldon McAfee and Christina Gruenhagen; for the Washington Legal Foundation by John M. Masslon II and Cory 

L. Andrews; and for Michael Knoll et al. by Eric B. Wolff and Sopen B. Shah. 

Briefs of amici curiae urging affrmance were fled for the State of 

Illinois et al. by Kwame Raoul, Attorney General of Illinois, Jane Elinor 
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Opinion of the Court 

Justice Gorsuch announced the judgment of the Court 

and delivered the opinion of the Court, except as to Parts 

IV–B, IV–C, and IV–D. 

What goods belong in our stores? Usually, consumer demand and local laws supply some of the answer. Recently, 

California adopted just such a law banning the in-state sale 

of certain pork products derived from breeding pigs confned 

in stalls so small they cannot lie down, stand up, or turn 

around. In response, two groups of out-of-state pork proNotz, Solicitor General, Sarah A. Hunger, Deputy Solicitor General, Christina Hansen, Assistant Attorney General, by Dana Nessel, Attorney General of Michigan, Fadwa A. Hammoud, Solicitor General, and Ann M. 

Sherman, Deputy Solicitor General, by Matthew J. Platkin, Acting Attorney General of New Jersey, and by the Attorneys General for their respective jurisdictions as follows: Philip J. Weiser of Colorado, William Tong 

of Connecticut, Karl Racine of the District of Columbia, Aaron M. Frey 

of Maine, Brian E. Frosh of Maryland, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, 

Aaron D. Ford of Nevada, Hector Balderas of New Mexico, Letitia James 

of New York, Ellen F. Rosenblum of Oregon, Peter F. Neronha of Rhode 

Island, and Robert W. Ferguson of Washington; for the American Public 

Health Association et al. by Henry Weisburg and Matthew G. Berkowitz; 

for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals by 

Jennifer H. Chin; for the Animal Protection and Rescue League, Inc., by 

Bryan W. Pease; for Animal Protection Organizations et al. by Katherine 

A. Meyer; for the Association of California Egg Farmers by Thomas G. 

Saunders; for the Center for a Humane Economy et al. by Jessica L. 

Blome; for Constitutional Law Scholars by Eric B. Boettcher; for Economic Research Organizations by Benjamin D. Battles and Agatha M. 

Cole; for Federalism Scholars by Gregory M. Lipper; for the Global Animal 

Partnership et al. by Alethea Anne Swift, Jonathan S. Massey, and William J. Friedman; for Historians by Sheldon Eisenberg; for the National 

League of Cities et al. by John J. Korzen; for the Northeast Organic Dairy 

Producers Alliance by Christopher J. Wright and Jason Neal; for the Perdue Premium Meat Co. by Mitchell Y. Mirviss; for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine by Corey Page; for Public Citizen by Nandan 

M. Joshi, Allison M. Zieve, and Scott L. Nelson; for Worker Safety Advocates by David S. Muraskin; for Dr. Leon Barringer by Elizabeth R. 

Moulton and Melanie R. Hallums; for Sen. Cory Booker by Glenn A. 

Danas; for Donald Broom et al. by Gregory G. Rapawy; for Barry Friedman et al. by Elizabeth B. Wydra, Brianne J. Gorod, and Brian R. Frazelle; for Jim Keen, DVM, Ph.D., et al. by Mark M. Leitner and Joseph 
364 NATIONAL PORK PRODUCERS COUNCIL v. ROSS 

Opinion of the Court 

ducers fled this lawsuit, arguing that the law unconstitutionally interferes with their preferred way of doing business in 

violation of this Court's dormant Commerce Clause precedents. Both the district court and court of appeals dismissed the producers' complaint for failing to state a claim. 

We affrm. Companies that choose to sell products in 

various States must normally comply with the laws of those 

various States. Assuredly, under this Court's dormant 

Commerce Clause decisions, no State may use its laws to 

discriminate purposefully against out-of-state economic interests. But the pork producers do not suggest that California's law offends this principle. Instead, they invite us to 

fashion two new and more aggressive constitutional restrictions on the ability of States to regulate goods sold within 

their borders. We decline that invitation. While the Constitution addresses many weighty issues, the type of pork 

chops California merchants may sell is not on that list. 

I 

Modern American grocery stores offer a dizzying array of 

choice. Often, consumers may choose among eggs that are 

large, medium, or small; eggs that are white, brown, or some 

other color; eggs from cage-free chickens or ones raised consistent with organic farming standards. When it comes to 

meat and fsh, the options are no less plentiful. Products 

may be marketed as free range, wild caught, or graded by 

quality (prime, choice, select, and beyond). The pork products at issue here, too, sometimes come with “antibiotic-free” 

and “crate-free” labels. USDA, Report to Congress: LiveS. Goode; for O. Carter Snead et al. by Megan M. Wold; and for Mark Wu 

by Mr. Wu, pro se. 

Briefs of amici curiae were fled for Agricultural and Resource Economics Professors by Kathleen Hartnett and Adam S. Gershenson; for ButcherBox by Joshua I. Schiller; for Small and Independent Farming Businesses et al. by Jamie Crooks; and for Lea Brilmayer by Tassity S. 

Johnson. 

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stock Mandatory Reporting 18 (2018), https://www.ams.usda 

.gov/sites/default/files/media/LMR2018ReporttoCongress 

.pdf. Much of this product differentiation refects consumer 

demand, informed by individual taste, health, or moral 

considerations. 

Informed by similar concerns, States (and their predecessors) have long enacted laws aimed at protecting animal welfare. As far back as 1641, the Massachusetts Bay Colony 

prohibited “Tirranny or Crueltie towards any bruite Creature.” Body of Liberties § 92, in A Bibliographical Sketch of 

the Laws of the Massachusetts Colony 52–53 (1890). Today, 

Massachusetts prohibits the sale of pork products from 

breeding pigs (or their offspring) if the breeding pig has been 

confned “in a manner that prevents [it] from lying down, 

standing up, fully extending [its] limbs or turning around 

freely.” Mass. Gen. Laws Ann., ch. 129, App. §§ 1–3, 1–5 

(Cum. Supp. 2023). Nor is that State alone. Florida's Constitution prohibits “any person [from] confn[ing] a pig during 

pregnancy . . . in such a way that she is prevented from 

turning around freely.” Art. X, § 21(a). Arizona, Maine, 

Michigan, Oregon, and Rhode Island, too, have laws regulating animal confnement practices within their borders. See 

Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 13–2910.07(A) (2018); Me. Rev. Stat. 

Ann., Tit. 7, §§ 4020(1)–(2) (2018); Mich. Comp. Laws 

§ 287.746(2) (West Cum. Supp. 2022); Ore. Rev. Stat. 

§§ 600.150(1)–(2) (2021); R. I. Gen. Laws § 4–1.1–3 (Supp. 

2022). 

This case involves a challenge to a California law known 

as Proposition 12. In November 2018 and with the support 

of about 63% of participating voters, California adopted a 

ballot initiative that revised the State's existing standards 

for the in-state sale of eggs and announced new standards 

for the in-state sale of pork and veal products. App. to Pet. 

for Cert. 37a–46a. As relevant here, Proposition 12 forbids 

the in-state sale of whole pork meat that comes from breeding pigs (or their immediate offspring) that are “confned 

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366 NATIONAL PORK PRODUCERS COUNCIL v. ROSS 

Opinion of the Court 

in a cruel manner.” Cal. Health & Safety Code Ann. 

§ 25990(b)(2) (West Cum. Supp. 2023). Subject to certain exceptions, the law deems confnement “cruel” if it prevents a 

pig from “lying down, standing up, fully extending [its] 

limbs, or turning around freely.” § 25991(e)(1). Since Proposition 12's adoption, the State has begun developing “proposed regulations” that would permit compliance “certifcation[s]” to be issued “by non-governmental third parties, 

many used for myriad programs (e. g., `organic') already.” 

Brief for Intervenor Respondents 30, n. 8. 

A spirited debate preceded the vote on Proposition 12. 

Proponents observed that, in some farming operations, pregnant pigs remain “[e]ncased” for 16 weeks in “ft-to-size” 

metal crates. M. Scully, A Brief for the Pigs: The Case of 

National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, National Review, 

July 11, 2022, https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/07/abrief - for - the - pigs - the - case - of - national - pork - producers -

council-v-ross/. These animals may receive their only opportunity for exercise when they are moved to a separate 

barn to give birth and later returned for another 16 weeks 

of pregnancy confnement—with the cycle repeating until the 

pigs are slaughtered. Ibid. Proponents hoped that Proposition 12 would go a long way toward eliminating pork 

sourced in this manner “from the California marketplace.” 

A. Padilla, Cal. Secretary of State, California General Election—Official Voter Information Guide 70 (Nov. 6, 2018) 

(Voter Guide), https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2018/general/pdf/ 

complete-vig.pdf. Proponents also suggested that the law 

would have health benefts for consumers because “packing 

animals in tiny, flthy cages increases the risk of food poisoning.” Ibid.; see App. to Pet. for Cert. 201a–202a. 

Opponents pressed their case in strong terms too. They 

argued that existing farming practices did a better job of 

protecting animal welfare (for example, by preventing pigon-pig aggression) and ensuring consumer health (by avoiding contamination) than Proposition 12 would. Id., at 185a– 

187a; see also Voter Guide 70–71. They also warned voters 

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that Proposition 12 would require some farmers and processors to incur new costs. Id., at 69. Ones that might be 

“passed through” to California consumers. Ibid. 

Shortly after Proposition 12's adoption, two organizations—the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation (collectively, petitioners)—fled 

this lawsuit on behalf of their members who raise and process pigs. App. to Pet. for Cert. 154a–155a. Petitioners alleged that Proposition 12 violates the U. S. Constitution 

by impermissibly burdening interstate commerce. Id., at 

230a–232a. 

In support of that legal claim, petitioners pleaded a number of facts. They acknowledged that, in response to consumer demand and the laws of other States, 28% of their 

industry has already converted to some form of group housing for pregnant pigs. Id., at 186a. But, petitioners cautioned, even some farmers who already raise group-housed 

pigs will have to modify their practices if they wish to comply with Proposition 12. Id., at 208a–209a. Much of pork 

production today is vertically integrated, too, with farmers 

selling pigs to large processing frms that turn them into 

different “cuts of meat” and distribute the “different parts 

. . . all over to completely different end users.” Id., at 334a– 

335a. Revising this system to segregate and trace Proposition 12-compliant pork, petitioners alleged, will require 

certain processing frms to make substantial new capital investments. Id., at 205a–206a. Ultimately, petitioners estimated that “compliance with Proposition 12 will increase 

production costs” by “9.2% . . . at the farm level.” Id., at 

214a. These compliance costs will fall on California and outof-state producers alike. Ibid. But because California imports almost all the pork it consumes, petitioners emphasized, “the majority” of Proposition 12's compliance costs will 

be initially borne by out-of-state frms. Ibid. 

After considerable motions practice, the district court held 

that petitioners' complaint failed to state a claim as a matter 

of law and dismissed the case. 456 F. Supp. 3d 1201 (SD Cal. 
368 NATIONAL PORK PRODUCERS COUNCIL v. ROSS 

Opinion of the Court 

2020). With Judge Ikuta writing for a unanimous panel, the 

Ninth Circuit affrmed. 6 F. 4th 1021 (2021). Following 

that ruling, petitioners sought certiorari and we agreed to 

consider the complaint's legal suffciency for ourselves. 596 

U. S. ––– (2022). 

II 

The Constitution vests Congress with the power to “regulate Commerce . . . among the several States.” Art. I, § 8, 

cl. 3. Everyone agrees that Congress may seek to exercise 

this power to regulate the interstate trade of pork, much as 

it has done with various other products. Everyone agrees, 

too, that congressional enactments may preempt conficting 

state laws. See Art. VI, cl. 2. But everyone also agrees 

that we have nothing like that here. Despite the persistent 

efforts of certain pork producers, Congress has yet to adopt 

any statute that might displace Proposition 12 or laws regulating pork production in other States. See, e. g., H. R. 272, 

116th Cong., 1st Sess., § 2 (2019); H. R. 4879, 115th Cong., 2d 

Sess., § 2(a) (2018); H. R. 3599, 115th Cong., 1st Sess., § 2(a) 

(2017); H. R. 687, 114th Cong., 1st Sess., § 2(a) (2015). 

That has led petitioners to resort to litigation, pinning 

their hopes on what has come to be called the dormant Commerce Clause. Reading between the Constitution's lines, 

petitioners observe, this Court has held that the Commerce 

Clause not only vests Congress with the power to regulate 

interstate trade; the Clause also “contain[s] a further, negative command,” one effectively forbidding the enforcement 

of “certain state [economic regulations] even when Congress 

has failed to legislate on the subject.” Oklahoma Tax 

Comm'n v. Jefferson Lines, Inc., 514 U. S. 175, 179 (1995). 

This view of the Commerce Clause developed gradually. 

In Gibbons v. Ogden, Chief Justice Marshall recognized that 

the States' constitutionally reserved powers enable them to 

regulate commerce in their own jurisdictions in ways sure to 

have “a remote and considerable infuence on commerce” in 

other States. 9 Wheat. 1, 203 (1824). By way of example, 

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he cited “[i]nspection laws, quarantine laws, [and] health 

laws of every description.” Ibid. At the same time, however, Chief Justice Marshall saw “great force in th[e] argument” that the Commerce Clause might impliedly bar certain 

types of state economic regulation. Id., at 209. Decades 

later, in Cooley v. Board of Wardens of Port of Philadelphia 

ex rel. Soc. for Relief of Distressed Pilots, this Court again 

recognized that the power vested in Congress to regulate 

interstate commerce leaves the States substantial leeway to 

adopt their own commercial codes. 12 How. 299, 317–321 

(1852). But once more, the Court hinted that the Constitution may come with some restrictions on what “may be regulated by the States” even “in the absence of all congressional 

legislation.” Id., at 320. 

Eventually, the Court cashed out these warnings, holding 

that state laws offend the Commerce Clause when they seek 

to “build up . . . domestic commerce” through “burdens upon 

the industry and business of other States,” regardless of 

whether Congress has spoken. Guy v. Baltimore, 100 U. S. 

434, 443 (1880). At the same time, though, the Court reiterated that, absent discrimination, “a State may exclude from 

its territory, or prohibit the sale therein of any articles 

which, in its judgment, fairly exercised, are prejudicial to” 

the interests of its citizens. Ibid. 

Today, this antidiscrimination principle lies at the “very 

core” of our dormant Commerce Clause jurisprudence. 

Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison, 520 

U. S. 564, 581 (1997). In its “modern” cases, this Court has 

said that the Commerce Clause prohibits the enforcement of 

state laws “driven by . . . `economic protectionism—that is, 

regulatory measures designed to beneft in-state economic 

interests by burdening out-of-state competitors.' ” Department of Revenue of Ky. v. Davis, 553 U. S. 328, 337–338 

(2008) (quoting New Energy Co. of Ind. v. Limbach, 486 U. S. 

269, 273–274 (1988)); see also Tennessee Wine and Spirits 

Retailers Assn. v. Thomas, 588 U. S. –––, ––– (2019) (observPage Proof Pending Publication
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ing that this Court's cases operate principally to “safeguard 

against state protectionism”); Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. 

County of Kent, 510 U. S. 355, 373, n. 18 (1994) (describing 

“a violation of the dormant Commerce Clause” as “discrimination against interstate commerce”). 

Admittedly, some “Members of the Court have authored 

vigorous and thoughtful critiques of this interpretation” of 

the Commerce Clause. Tennessee Wine, 588 U. S., at ––– 

(citing cases). They have not necessarily quarreled with 

the antidiscrimination principle. But they have suggested 

that it may be more appropriately housed elsewhere in the 

Constitution. Perhaps in the Import-Export Clause, which 

prohibits States from “lay[ing] any Imposts or Duties on 

Imports or Exports” without permission from Congress. 

Art. I, § 10, cl. 2; see Camps Newfound/Owatonna, 520 U. S., 

at 621–637 (Thomas, J., dissenting). Perhaps in the Privileges and Immunities Clause, which entitles “[t]he Citizens 

of each State” to “all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens 

in the several States.” Art. IV, § 2; see Tyler Pipe Industries, Inc. v. Washington State Dept. of Revenue, 483 U. S. 

232, 265 (1987) (Scalia, J., concurring in part and dissenting 

in part). Or perhaps the principle inheres in the very structure of the Constitution, which “was framed upon the theory 

that the peoples of the several [S]tates must sink or swim 

together.” American Trucking Assns., Inc. v. Michigan 

Pub. Serv. Comm'n, 545 U. S. 429, 433 (2005) (internal quotation marks omitted). 

Whatever one thinks about these critiques, we have no 

need to engage with any of them to resolve this case. Even 

under our received dormant Commerce Clause case law, petitioners begin in a tough spot. They do not allege that California's law seeks to advantage in-state frms or disadvantage out-of-state rivals. In fact, petitioners disavow any 

discrimination-based claim, conceding that Proposition 12 

imposes the same burdens on in-state pork producers that 

it imposes on out-of-state ones. As petitioners put it, “the 

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dormant Commerce Clause . . . bar on protectionist state 

statutes that discriminate against interstate commerce . . . 

is not in issue here.” Brief for Petitioners 2, n. 2. 

III 

Having conceded that California's law does not implicate 

the antidiscrimination principle at the core of this Court's 

dormant Commerce Clause cases, petitioners are left to pursue two more ambitious theories. In the frst, petitioners 

invoke what they call “extraterritoriality doctrine.” Id., at 

19. They contend that our dormant Commerce Clause cases 

suggest an additional and “almost per se” rule forbidding enforcement of state laws that have the “practical effect of controlling commerce outside the State,” even when those laws 

do not purposely discriminate against out-of-state economic 

interests. Ibid. Petitioners further insist that Proposition 

12 offends this “almost per se” rule because the law will impose substantial new costs on out-of-state pork producers 

who wish to sell their products in California. 

A 

This argument falters out of the gate. Put aside what 

problems may attend the minor (factual) premise of this argument. Focus just on the major (legal) premise. Petitioners say the “almost per se” rule they propose follows ineluctably from three cases—Healy v. Beer Institute, 491 U. S. 

324 (1989); Brown-Forman Distillers Corp. v. New York 

State Liquor Authority, 476 U. S. 573 (1986); and Baldwin v. 

G. A. F. Seelig, Inc., 294 U. S. 511 (1935). A close look at 

those cases, however, reveals nothing like the rule petitioners posit. Instead, each typifes the familiar concern with 

preventing purposeful discrimination against out-of-state 

economic interests. 

Start with Baldwin. There, this Court refused to enforce 

New York laws that barred out-of-state dairy farmers from 

selling their milk in the State “unless the price paid to” them 

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matched the minimum price New York law guaranteed instate producers. Id., at 519. In that way, the challenged 

laws deliberately robbed out-of-state dairy farmers of the 

opportunity to charge lower prices in New York thanks to 

whatever “natural competitive advantage” they might have 

enjoyed over in-state dairy farmers—for example, lower cost 

structures, more productive farming practices, or “lusher 

pasturage.” D. Regan, The Supreme Court and State Protectionism: Making Sense of the Dormant Commerce Clause, 

84 Mich. L. Rev. 1091, 1248 (1986). The problem with New 

York's laws was thus a simple one: They “plainly discriminate[d]” against out-of-staters by “erecting an economic barrier protecting a major local industry against competition 

from without the State.” Dean Milk Co. v. Madison, 340 

U. S. 349, 354 (1951) (discussing Baldwin). Really, the laws 

operated like “a tariff or customs duty.” West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy, 512 U. S. 186, 194 (1994); see Baldwin, 294 

U. S., at 523 (condemning the challenged laws for seeking 

to “protec[t]” New York dairy farmers “against competition 

from without”). 

Brown-Forman and Healy differed from Baldwin only in 

that they involved price-affrmation, rather than price-fxing, 

statutes. In Brown-Forman, New York required liquor distillers to affrm (on a monthly basis) that their in-state prices 

were no higher than their out-of-state prices. 476 U. S., at 

576. Once more, the goal was plain: New York sought to 

force out-of-state distillers to “surrender” whatever cost advantages they enjoyed against their in-state rivals. Id., at 

580. Once more, the law amounted to “simple economic protectionism.” Ibid. (internal quotation marks omitted). 

In Healy, a Connecticut law required out-of-state beer 

merchants to affrm that their in-state prices were no higher 

than those they charged in neighboring States. 491 U. S., 

at 328–330. Here, too, protectionism took center stage. As 

the Court later noted, “[t]he essential vice in laws” like Connecticut's is that they “hoard” commerce “for the beneft of” 

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in-state merchants and discourage consumers from crossing 

state lines to make their purchases from nearby out-of-state 

vendors. C & A Carbone, Inc. v. Clarkstown, 511 U. S. 383, 

391–392 (1994). Nor did the law in Healy even try to cloak 

its discriminatory purpose: “By its plain terms, the Connecticut affrmation statute applie[d] solely to interstate” frms, 

and in that way “clearly discriminate[d] against interstate 

commerce.” 491 U. S., at 340–341. The Court also worried 

that, if the Connecticut law stood, “each of the border States” 

could “enac[t] statutes essentially identical to Connecticut's” 

in retaliation—a result often associated with avowedly protectionist economic policies. Id., at 339–340. 

B 

Petitioners insist that our reading of these cases misses 

the forest for the trees. On their account, Baldwin, BrownForman, and Healy didn't just fnd an impermissible discriminatory purpose in the challenged laws; they also suggested an “almost per se” rule against state laws with 

“extraterritorial effects.” Brief for Petitioners 19, 23. In 

Healy, petitioners stress, the Court included language criticizing New York's laws for having the “ `practical effect' ” of 

“control[ling] commerce `occurring wholly outside the boundaries of [the] State.' ” Brief for Petitioners 21, 25 (quoting 

491 U. S., at 336). In Brown-Forman, petitioners observe, 

the Court suggested that whether a state law “ `is addressed 

only to [in-state] sales' ” “ `is irrelevant if the “practical effect” of the law is to control' ” out-of-state prices. Brief for 

Petitioners 21 (quoting 476 U. S., at 583). Petitioners point 

to similar language in Baldwin as well. Brief for Petitioners 37 (quoting 294 U. S., at 523–524). 

In our view, however, petitioners read too much into too 

little. “[T]he language of an opinion is not always to be 

parsed as though we were dealing with language of a statute.” Reiter v. Sonotone Corp., 442 U. S. 330, 341 (1979). 

Instead, we emphasize, our opinions dispose of discrete cases 

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and controversies and they must be read with a careful eye 

to context. See Cohens v. Virginia, 6 Wheat. 264, 399–400 

(1821) (Marshall, C. J.). And when it comes to Baldwin, 

Brown-Forman, and Healy, the language petitioners highlight appeared in a particular context and did particular 

work. Throughout, the Court explained that the challenged 

statutes had a specifc impermissible “extraterritorial effect”—they deliberately “prevent[ed out-of-state frms] from 

undertaking competitive pricing” or “deprive[d] businesses 

and consumers in other States of `whatever competitive advantages they may possess.' ” Healy, 491 U. S., at 338–339 

(quoting Brown-Forman, 476 U. S., at 580). 

In recognizing this much, we say nothing new. This 

Court has already described “[t]he rule that was applied in 

Baldwin and Healy” as addressing “price control or price 

affrmation statutes” that tied “the price of . . . in-state products to out-of-state prices.” Pharmaceutical Research and 

Mfrs. of America v. Walsh, 538 U. S. 644, 669 (2003) (internal 

quotation marks omitted). Many lower courts have read 

these decisions in exactly the same way. See, e. g., 6 F. 4th, 

at 1028–1029; Association for Accessible Medicines v. Frosh, 

887 F. 3d 664, 669 (CA4 2018); Energy and Environment 

Legal Inst. v. Epel, 793 F. 3d 1169, 1174 (CA10 2015); American Beverage Assn. v. Snyder, 735 F. 3d 362, 373 (CA6 2013). 

Consider, too, the strange places petitioners' alternative 

interpretation could lead. In our interconnected national 

marketplace, many (maybe most) state laws have the “practical effect of controlling” extraterritorial behavior. State 

income tax laws lead some individuals and companies to 

relocate to other jurisdictions. See, e. g., Banner v. United 

States, 428 F. 3d 303, 310 (CADC 2005) (per curiam). Environmental laws often prove decisive when businesses choose 

where to manufacture their goods. See American Beverage 

Assn., 735 F. 3d, at 379 (Sutton, J., concurring). Add to the 

extraterritorial-effects list all manner of “libel laws, securities requirements, charitable registration requirements, 

franchise laws, tort laws,” and plenty else besides. J. GoldPage Proof Pending Publication
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smith & A. Sykes, The Internet and the Dormant Commerce 

Clause, 110 Yale L. J. 785, 804 (2001). Nor, as we have seen, 

is this a recent development. Since the founding, States 

have enacted an “immense mass” of “[i]nspection laws, quarantine laws, [and] health laws of every description” that have 

a “considerable” infuence on commerce outside their borders. Gibbons, 9 Wheat., at 203; see also Cooley, 12 How., 

at 317–321. Petitioners' “almost per se” rule against laws 

that have the “practical effect” of “controlling” extraterritorial commerce would cast a shadow over laws long understood to represent valid exercises of the States' constitutionally reserved powers. It would provide neither courts nor 

litigants with meaningful guidance in how to resolve disputes over them. Instead, it would invite endless litigation 

and inconsistent results. Can anyone really suppose Baldwin, Brown-Forman, and Healy meant to do so much? 

In rejecting petitioners' “almost per se” theory we do not 

mean to trivialize the role territory and sovereign boundaries play in our federal system. Certainly, the Constitution 

takes great care to provide rules for fxing and changing 

state borders. Art. IV, § 3, cl. 1. Doubtless, too, courts 

must sometimes referee disputes about where one State's authority ends and another's begins—both inside and outside 

the commercial context. In carrying out that task, this 

Court has recognized the usual “legislative power of a State 

to act upon persons and property within the limits of its own 

territory,” Hoyt v. Sprague, 103 U. S. 613, 630 (1881), a feature of our constitutional order that allows “different communities” to live “with different local standards,” Sable Communications of Cal., Inc. v. FCC, 492 U. S. 115, 126 (1989). 

But, by way of example, no one should think that one State 

may adopt a law exempting securities held by the residents 

of a second State from taxation in that second State. Bonaparte v. Tax Court, 104 U. S. 592, 592–594 (1882). Nor, we 

have held, should anyone think one State may prosecute the 

citizen of another State for acts committed “outside [the frst 

State's] jurisdiction” that are not “intended to produce [or 

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Opinion of the Court 

that do not] produc[e] detrimental effects within it.” Strassheim v. Daily, 221 U. S. 280, 285 (1911). 

To resolve disputes about the reach of one State's power, 

this Court has long consulted original and historical understandings of the Constitution's structure and the principles 

of “sovereignty and comity” it embraces. BMW of North 

America, Inc. v. Gore, 517 U. S. 559, 572 (1996). This Court 

has invoked as well a number of the Constitution's express 

provisions—including “the Due Process Clause and the Full 

Faith and Credit Clause.” Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts, 

472 U. S. 797, 818 (1985). The antidiscrimination principle 

found in our dormant Commerce Clause cases may well represent one more effort to mediate competing claims of sovereign authority under our horizontal separation of powers. 

But none of this means, as petitioners suppose, that any 

question about the ability of a State to project its power 

extraterritorially must yield to an “almost per se” rule under 

the dormant Commerce Clause. This Court has never before claimed so much “ground for judicial supremacy under 

the banner of the dormant Commerce Clause.” United 

Haulers Assn., Inc. v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority, 550 U. S. 330, 347 (2007). We see no 

reason to change course now.1 

1 Beyond Baldwin, Brown-Forman, and Healy, petitioners point to 

Edgar v. MITE Corp., 457 U. S. 624 (1982), as authority for the “almost 

per se” rule they propose. Invoking the dormant Commerce Clause, a 

plurality in that case declined to enforce an Illinois securities law that 

“directly regulate[d] transactions which [took] place . . . wholly outside the 

State” and involved individuals “having no connection with Illinois.” Id., 

at 641–643 (emphasis added). Some have questioned whether the state 

law at issue in Edgar posed a dormant Commerce Clause question as much 

as one testing the territorial limits of state authority under the Constitution's horizontal separation of powers. See, e. g., D. Regan, Siamese Essays: (I) CTS Corp. v. Dynamics Corp. of America and Dormant Commerce Clause Doctrine; (II) Extraterritorial State Legislation, 85 Mich. 

L. Rev. 1865, 1875–1880, 1897–1902 (1987); cf. Shelby County v. Holder, 570 

U. S. 529, 535 (2013) (“[A]ll States enjoy equal sovereignty”). But either 

way, the Edgar plurality opinion does not support the rule petitioners 
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IV 

Failing in their frst theory, petitioners retreat to a second 

they associate with Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U. S. 137 

(1970). Under Pike, they say, a court must at least assess 

“ `the burden imposed on interstate commerce' ” by a state 

law and prevent its enforcement if the law's burdens are 

“ `clearly excessive in relation to the putative local benefts.' ” 

Brief for Petitioners 44. Petitioners then rattle off a litany 

of reasons why they believe the benefts Proposition 12 secures for Californians do not outweigh the costs it imposes 

on out-of-state economic interests. We see problems with 

this theory too. 

A 

In the frst place, petitioners overstate the extent to which 

Pike and its progeny depart from the antidiscrimination rule 

that lies at the core of our dormant Commerce Clause jurisprudence. As this Court has previously explained, “no clear 

line” separates the Pike line of cases from our core antidiscrimination precedents. General Motors Corp. v. Tracy, 519 

U. S. 278, 298, n. 12 (1997). While many of our dormant 

Commerce Clause cases have asked whether a law exhibits 

“ `facial discrimination,' ” “several cases that have purported 

to apply [Pike,] including Pike itself,” have “turned in whole 

or in part on the discriminatory character of the challenged 

state regulations.” Ibid. In other words, if some of our 

cases focus on whether a state law discriminates on its face, 

the Pike line serves as an important reminder that a law's 

practical effects may also disclose the presence of a discriminatory purpose. 

Pike itself illustrates the point. That case concerned an 

Arizona order requiring cantaloupes grown in state to be 

propose. That decision spoke to a law that directly regulated out-of-state 

transactions by those with no connection to the State. Petitioners do not 

allege those conditions exist here. To the contrary, they acknowledge 

that Proposition 12 regulates only products that companies choose to sell 

“within” California. Cal. Health & Safety Code Ann. § 25990(b). 

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processed and packed in state. 397 U. S., at 138–140. The 

Court held that Arizona's order violated the dormant Commerce Clause. Id., at 146. Even if that order could be 

fairly characterized as facially neutral, the Court stressed 

that it “requir[ed] business operations to be performed in 

[state] that could more effciently be performed elsewhere.” 

Id., at 145. The “practical effect[s]” of the order in operation thus revealed a discriminatory purpose—an effort to insulate in-state processing and packaging businesses from 

out-of-state competition. Id., at 140, 145. 

Other cases in the Pike line underscore the same message. 

In Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery Co., the Court found 

no impermissible burden on interstate commerce because, 

looking to the law's effects, “there [was] no reason to suspect 

that the gainers” would be in-state frms or that “the losers 

[would be] out-of-state frms.” 449 U. S. 456, 473 (1981); see 

also id., at 474–477, and n. 2 (Powell, J., concurring in part 

and dissenting in part) (asking whether the “actual purpose,” 

if not the “ `avowed purpose,' ” of the law was discrimination). Similarly, in Exxon Corp. v. Governor of Maryland, 

the Court keyed to the fact that the effect of the challenged 

law was only to shift business from one set of out-of-state 

suppliers to another. 437 U. S. 117, 127 (1978). And in 

United Haulers, a plurality upheld the challenged law because it could not “detect” any discrimination in favor of instate businesses or against out-of-state competitors. 550 

U. S., at 346. In each of these cases and many more, the 

presence or absence of discrimination in practice proved 

decisive. 

Once again, we say nothing new here. Some time ago, 

Tracy identifed the congruity between our core dormant 

Commerce Clause precedents and the Pike line. 519 U. S., 

at 298, n. 12. Many lower courts have done the same. See, 

e. g., Rosenblatt v. Santa Monica, 940 F. 3d 439, 452 (CA9 

2019); Park Pet Shop, Inc. v. Chicago, 872 F. 3d 495, 501 (CA7 

2017); Amanda Acquisition Corp. v. Universal Foods Corp., 

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877 F. 2d 496, 505 (CA7 1989). So have many scholars. See, 

e. g., R. Fallon, The Dynamic Constitution 311 (2d ed. 2013) 

(observing that Pike serves to “ `smoke out' a hidden” protectionism); B. Friedman & D. Deacon, A Course Unbroken: 

The Constitutional Legitimacy of the Dormant Commerce 

Clause, 97 Va. L. Rev. 1877, 1927 (2011); Regan, 84 Mich. 

L. Rev., at 1286. 

Nor does any of this help petitioners in this case. They 

not only disavow any claim that Proposition 12 discriminates 

on its face. They nowhere suggest that an examination of 

Proposition 12's practical effects in operation would disclose 

purposeful discrimination against out-of-state businesses. 

While this Court has left the “courtroom door open” to challenges premised on “even nondiscriminatory burdens,” 

Davis, 553 U. S., at 353, and while “a small number of our 

cases have invalidated state laws . . . that appear to have been 

genuinely nondiscriminatory,” Tracy, 519 U. S., at 298, n. 12,2 

2 Most notably, Tracy referred to, and petitioners briefy allude to, a line 

of cases that originated before Pike in which this Court refused to enforce 

certain state regulations on instrumentalities of interstate transportation—trucks, trains, and the like. See, e. g., Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, 

Inc., 359 U. S. 520, 523–530 (1959) (concerning a state law specifying certain mud faps for trucks and trailers); Southern Pacifc Co. v. Arizona ex 

rel. Sullivan, 325 U. S. 761, 763–782 (1945) (addressing a state law regarding the length of trains). Petitioners claim these cases support something 

like the extraterritoriality or balancing rules they propose. But at least 

some decisions in this line might be viewed as condemning state laws that 

“although neutral on their face . . . were enacted at the instance of, and 

primarily beneft,” in-state interests. Raymond Motor Transp., Inc. v. 

Rice, 434 U. S. 429, 447 (1978); see also B. Friedman & D. Deacon, A Course 

Unbroken: The Constitutional Legitimacy of the Dormant Commerce 

Clause, 97 Va. L. Rev. 1877, 1927 (2011). In any event, this Court “has 

only rarely held that the Commerce Clause itself pre-empts an entire feld 

from state regulation, and then only when a lack of national uniformity 

would impede the fow of interstate goods.” Exxon Corp. v. Governor of 

Maryland, 437 U. S. 117, 128 (1978) (emphasis added). Nothing like that 

exists here. We do not face a law that impedes the fow of commerce. 

Pigs are not trucks or trains. 

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petitioners' claim falls well outside Pike's heartland. That 

is not an auspicious start. 

B 

Matters do not improve from there. While Pike has traditionally served as another way to test for purposeful discrimination against out-of-state economic interests, and 

while some of our cases associated with that line have expressed special concern with certain state regulation of the 

instrumentalities of interstate transportation, see n. 2, 

supra, petitioners would have us retool Pike for a much more 

ambitious project. They urge us to read Pike as authorizing 

judges to strike down duly enacted state laws regulating the 

in-state sale of ordinary consumer goods (like pork) based on 

nothing more than their own assessment of the relevant law's 

“costs” and “benefts.” 

That we can hardly do. Whatever other judicial authorities the Commerce Clause may imply, that kind of freewheeling power is not among them. Petitioners point to nothing 

in the Constitution's text or history that supports such a 

project. And our cases have expressly cautioned against 

judges using the dormant Commerce Clause as “a roving 

license for federal courts to decide what activities are appropriate for state and local government to undertake.” 

United Haulers, 550 U. S., at 343. While “[t]here was a time 

when this Court presumed to make such binding judgments 

for society, under the guise of interpreting the Due Process 

Clause,” we have long refused pleas like petitioners' “to reclaim that ground” in the name of the dormant Commerce 

Clause. Id., at 347. 

Not only is the task petitioners propose one the Commerce 

Clause does not authorize judges to undertake. This Court 

has also recognized that judges often are “not institutionally 

suited to draw reliable conclusions of the kind that would be 

necessary . . . to satisfy [the] Pike” test as petitioners conceive it. Davis, 553 U. S., at 353. 

Our case illustrates the problem. On the “cost” side of the 

ledger, petitioners allege they will face increased production 

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expenses because of Proposition 12. On the “benefts” side, 

petitioners acknowledge that Californians voted for Proposition 12 to vindicate a variety of interests, many noneconomic. 

See App. to Pet. for Cert. 192a (alleging in their complaint 

that “Proposition 12's requirements were driven by [a] conception of what qualifes as `cruel' animal housing” and by 

the State's concern for the “ `health and safety of California 

consumers' ”). How is a court supposed to compare or weigh 

economic costs (to some) against noneconomic benefts (to 

others)? No neutral legal rule guides the way. The competing goods before us are insusceptible to resolution by reference to any juridical principle. Really, the task is like 

being asked to decide “whether a particular line is longer 

than a particular rock is heavy.” Bendix Autolite Corp. v. 

Midwesco Enterprises, Inc., 486 U. S. 888, 897 (1988) (Scalia, J., concurring in judgment). 

Faced with this problem, petitioners reply that we should 

heavily discount the benefts of Proposition 12. They say 

that California has little interest in protecting the welfare of 

animals raised elsewhere and the law's health benefts are 

overblown. But along the way, petitioners offer notable 

concessions too. They acknowledge that States may sometimes ban the in-state sale of products they deem unethical 

or immoral without regard to where those products are made 

(for example, goods manufactured with child labor). See Tr. 

of Oral Arg. 51 (“[A] state is perfectly entitled to enforce its 

morals in state”); see also Western Union Telegraph Co. v. 

James, 162 U. S. 650, 653 (1896) (holding that States may 

enact laws to “promote . . . public morals”). And, at least 

arguably, Proposition 12 works in just this way—banning 

from the State all whole pork products derived from practices its voters consider “cruel.” Petitioners also concede 

that States may often adopt laws addressing even “imperfectly understood” health risks associated with goods sold 

within their borders. Reply Brief 13. And, again, no one 

disputes that some who voted for Proposition 12 may have 

done so with just that sort of goal in mind. See, e. g., USDA 

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382 NATIONAL PORK PRODUCERS COUNCIL v. ROSS 

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Proposed Rule To Amend Organic Livestock and Poultry 

Production Requirements, 87 Fed. Reg. 48565 (2022) (affording animals more space “may result in healthier livestock 

products for human consumption”). 

So even accepting everything petitioners say, we remain 

left with a task no court is equipped to undertake. On the 

one hand, some out-of-state producers who choose to comply 

with Proposition 12 may incur new costs. On the other 

hand, the law serves moral and health interests of some (disputable) magnitude for in-state residents. Some might reasonably fnd one set of concerns more compelling. Others 

might fairly disagree. How should we settle that dispute? 

The competing goods are incommensurable. Your guess is 

as good as ours. 

More accurately, your guess is better than ours. In a functioning democracy, policy choices like these usually belong 

to the people and their elected representatives. They are 

entitled to weigh the relevant “political and economic” costs 

and benefts for themselves, Moorman Mfg. Co. v. Bair, 437 

U. S. 267, 279 (1978), and “try novel social and economic experiments” if they wish, New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 

U. S. 262, 311 (1932) (Brandeis, J., dissenting). Judges cannot displace the cost-beneft analyses embodied in democratically adopted legislation guided by nothing more than their 

own faith in “Mr. Herbert Spencer's Social Statics,” Lochner 

v. New York, 198 U. S. 45, 75 (1905) (Holmes, J., dissenting)— 

or, for that matter, Mr. Wilson Pond's Pork Production Systems, see W. Pond, J. Maner, & D. Harris, Pork Production 

Systems: Effcient Use of Swine and Feed Resources (1991). 

If, as petitioners insist, California's law really does 

threaten a “massive” disruption of the pork industry, see 

Brief for Petitioners 2, 4, 19—if pig husbandry really does 

“ `imperatively demand' ” a single uniform nationwide rule, 

id., at 27—they are free to petition Congress to intervene. 

Under the (wakeful) Commerce Clause, that body enjoys the 

power to adopt federal legislation that may preempt con-
Cite as: 598 U. S. 356 (2023) 383 

Opinion of Gorsuch, J. 

ficting state laws. That body is better equipped than this 

Court to identify and assess all the pertinent economic and 

political interests at play across the country. And that body 

is certainly better positioned to claim democratic support for 

any policy choice it may make. But so far, Congress has 

declined the producers' sustained entreaties for new legislation. See Part I, supra (citing failed efforts). And with 

that history in mind, it is hard not to wonder whether petitioners have ventured here only because winning a majority 

of a handful of judges may seem easier than marshaling a 

majority of elected representatives across the street. 

C 

Even as petitioners conceive Pike, they face a problem. 

As they read it, Pike requires a plaintiff to plead facts plausibly showing that a challenged law imposes “substantial burdens” on interstate commerce before a court may assess the 

law's competing benefts or weigh the two sides against each 

other. Brief for Petitioners 44. And, tellingly, the complaint before us fails to clear even that bar. 

To appreciate petitioners' problem, compare our case to 

Exxon. That case involved a Maryland law prohibiting petroleum producers from operating retail gas stations in the 

State. 437 U. S., at 119–121, and n. 1. Because Maryland 

had no in-state petroleum producers, Exxon argued, the 

law's “divestiture requirements” fell “solely on interstate 

companies” and threatened to force some to “withdraw entirely from the Maryland market” or incur new costs to serve 

that market. Id., at 125–127. All this, the company said, 

amounted to a violation of the dormant Commerce Clause. 

This Court found the allegations in Exxon's complaint insuffcient as a matter of law to demonstrate a substantial 

burden on interstate commerce. Without question, Maryland's law favored one business structure (independent gas 

station retailers) over another (vertically integrated production and retail frms). Ibid. The law also promised to inPage Proof Pending Publication
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crease retail gas prices for Maryland consumers, allowing 

some to question its “wisdom.” Id., at 124, 128. But, the 

Court found, Exxon failed to plead facts leading, “either logically or as a practical matter, to [the] conclusion that the 

State [was] discriminating against interstate commerce.” 

Id., at 125. The company failed to do so because, on its face, 

Maryland's law welcomed competition from interstate retail 

gas station chains that did not produce petroleum. Id., at 

125–126. And as far as anyone could tell, the law's “practical effect” wasn't to protect in-state producers; it was to shift 

market share from one set of out-of-state frms (vertically 

integrated businesses) to another (retail gas station frms). 

Id., at 125, 127. This Court squarely rejected the view that 

this predicted “ `change [in] the market structure' ” would 

“impermissibly burde[n] interstate commerce.” Id., at 127. 

If the dormant Commerce Clause protects the “interstate 

market . . . from prohibitive or burdensome regulations,” the 

Court held, it does not protect “particular . . . frms” or “particular structure[s] or methods of operation.” Id., at 127– 

128. 

If Maryland's law did not impose a suffcient burden on 

interstate commerce to warrant further scrutiny, the same 

must be said for Proposition 12. In Exxon, vertically integrated businesses faced a choice: They could divest their production capacities or withdraw from the local retail market. 

Here, farmers and vertically integrated processors have at 

least as much choice: They may provide all their pigs the 

space the law requires; they may segregate their operations 

to ensure pork products entering California meet its standards; or they may withdraw from that State's market. In 

Exxon, the law posed a choice only for out-of-state frms. 

Here, the law presents a choice primarily—but not exclusively—for out-of-state businesses; California does have 

some pork producers affected by Proposition 12. See App. 

to Pet. for Cert. 205a. In Exxon, as far as anyone could tell, 

the law threatened only to shift market share from one set 

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Opinion of Gorsuch, J. 

of out-of-state frms to another. Here, the pleadings allow 

for the same possibility—that California market share previously enjoyed by one group of proft-seeking, out-of-state 

businesses (farmers who stringently confne pigs and processors who decline to segregate their products) will be replaced by another (those who raise and trace Proposition 12-

compliant pork). In both cases, some may question the 

“wisdom” of a law that threatens to disrupt the existing 

practices of some industry participants and may lead to 

higher consumer prices. 437 U. S., at 128. But the dormant Commerce Clause does not protect a “particular structure or metho[d] of operation.” Id., at 127. That goes for 

pigs no less than gas stations. 

Think of it another way. Petitioners must plead facts 

“plausibly” suggesting a substantial harm to interstate commerce; facts that render that outcome a “speculative” possibility are not enough. Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 

U. S. 544, 555, 557 (2007). In an effort to meet this standard, 

petitioners allege facts suggesting that certain out-of-state 

farmers and processing frms will fnd it diffcult to comply 

with Proposition 12 and may choose not to do so. See App. 

to Pet. for Cert. 198a, 208a, 313a. But the complaint also 

acknowledges that many producers have already converted 

to some form of group housing, even if they have not all yet 

met Proposition 12's standards. Id., at 186a. From these 

facts, the complaint plausibly alleges that some out-of-state 

frms may face diffculty complying (or may choose not to 

comply) with Proposition 12. But from all anyone can tell, 

other out-of-state competitors seeking to enhance their own 

profts may choose to modify their existing operations or create new ones to fll the void.3 

3 Though it is unnecessary to adorn the point, we note that a number of 

smaller out-of-state pork producers have fled an amicus brief in this 

Court hailing the “opportunities” Proposition 12 affords them to compete 

with vertically integrated frms with “ `concentrated market power' ” that 

are wedded to their existing processing practices. Brief for Small and 

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Of course, as the complaint alleges, a shift from one set of 

production methods to another promises some costs. Id., 

at 214a. But the complaint concedes that complying producers will be able to “pas[s] along” at least “some” of their 

increased costs to consumers. Id., at 178a. And no one 

thinks that costs ultimately borne by in-state consumers 

thanks to a law they adopted counts as a cognizable harm 

under our dormant Commerce Clause precedents. See 

United Haulers, 550 U. S., at 345 (holding that the dormant 

Commerce Clause is not offended by higher prices “likely to 

fall upon the very people who voted for the [challenged] 

la[w]”). Nor does the complaint allege facts plausibly suggesting that out-of-state consumers indifferent to pork production methods will have to pick up the tab (let alone explain how petitioners might sue to vindicate their interests). 

Instead, at least one declaration incorporated by reference 

into the complaint avers that some out-of-state consumers 

will “not value these changes and will not pay an increased 

price.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 335a; see also Brief for Agricultural and Resource Economics Professors as Amici Curiae 15, 23 (suggesting negligible effect on out-of-state prices 

for consumers not interested in Proposition 12-compliant 

pork). Further experience may yield further facts. But 

the facts pleaded in this complaint merely allege harm to 

Independent Farming Businesses et al. as Amici Curiae 1, 12, 19–20. 

Other amici have noted that even some large vertically integrated processing frms have already begun to modify (or else have indicated their 

intention to modify) their operations to comply with Proposition 12. See 

Brief for Perdue Premium Meat Co., Inc., as Amicus Curiae 3–7; see also 

Brief for Economic Research Organizations as Amici Curiae 16–17 (reciting public statements from Hormel, Smithfeld, and Tyson). Another 

large processing frm, Cargill, has boasted that, “ `[b]efore we sold our 

pork business in 2015, we led the industry in removing gestation stalls to 

house pregnant sows.' ” Id., at 16. Petitioner National Pork Producers 

Council lists Cargill as an “allied industry compan[y].” National Pork 

Producers Council, Pork Alliance Program, https://nppc.org/get-involved/ 

join-the-pork-alliance/. 
Cite as: 598 U. S. 356 (2023) 387 

Opinion of Gorsuch, J. 

some producers' favored “methods of operation.” Exxon, 

437 U. S., at 127. A substantial harm to interstate commerce remains nothing more than a speculative possibility. 

Ibid. 

D 

The Chief Justice's concurrence in part and dissent in 

part (call it “the lead dissent”) offers a contrasting view. 

Correctly, it begins by rejecting petitioners' “almost per se” 

rule against laws with extraterritorial effects. Post, at 394. 

And correctly, it disapproves reading Pike to endorse a 

“freewheeling judicial weighing of benefts and burdens.” 

Post, at 395. But for all it gets right, in other respects it 

goes astray. In places, the lead dissent seems to advance 

a reading of Pike that would permit judges to enjoin the 

enforcement of any state law restricting the sale of an ordinary consumer good if the law threatens an “ `excessive' ” 

“har[m] to the interstate market” for that good. Post, at 

397–403. It is an approach that would go much further than 

our precedents permit. So much further, in fact, that it isn't 

clear what separates the lead dissent's approach from others 

it purports to reject. 

Consider an example. Today, many States prohibit the 

sale of horsemeat for human consumption. See Cavel Int'l, 

Inc. v. Madigan, 500 F. 3d 551, 552–555 (CA7 2007). But 

these prohibitions “har[m] the interstate market” for horsemeat by denying outlets for its sale. Not only that, they 

distort the market for animal products more generally by 

pressuring horsemeat manufacturers to transition to different products, ones they can lawfully sell nationwide. Under 

the lead dissent's test, all it would take is one complaint from 

an unhappy out-of-state producer and—presto—the Constitution would protect the sale of horsemeat. Just fnd a 

judge anywhere in the country who considers the burden to 

producers “ `excessive.' ” Post, at 402. The same would go 

for all manner of consumer products currently banned by 

some States but not by others—goods ranging from frePage Proof Pending Publication
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Opinion of Gorsuch, J. 

works, see, e. g., Mass. Gen. Laws Ann., ch. 148, § 39 (2020), 

to single-use plastic grocery bags, see, e. g., Me. Rev. Stat. 

Ann., Tit. 38, §§ 1611(2)(A), (4) (2022). Rather than respecting federalism, a rule like that would require any consumer 

good available for sale in one State to be made available in 

every State. In the process, it would essentially replicate 

under Pike's banner petitioners' “almost per se” rule against 

state laws with extraterritorial effects. 

Seeking a way around that problem, the lead dissent stumbles into another. It suggests that the burdens of Proposition 12 are particularly “substantial” because California's law 

“carr[ies] implications for producers as far fung as Indiana 

and North Carolina.” Post, at 399–401. Why is that so? 

Justice Kavanaugh's solo concurrence in part and dissent 

in part says the quiet part aloud: California's market is so 

lucrative that almost any in-state measure will infuence how 

out-of-state proft-maximizing frms choose to operate. 

Post, at 405–407. But if that makes all the difference, it 

means voters in States with smaller markets are constitutionally entitled to greater authority to regulate in-state 

sales than voters in States with larger markets. So much 

for the Constitution's “fundamental principle of equal sovereignty among the States.” Shelby County v. Holder, 570 

U. S. 529, 544 (2013) (internal quotation marks omitted). 

The most striking feature of both dissents, however, may 

be another one. They suggest that, in assessing a state 

law's burdens under Pike, courts should take into account 

not just economic harms but also all manner of “derivative 

harms” to out-of-state interests. Post, at 398–399 (opinion 

of Roberts, C. J.). These include social costs that are “diffcult to quantify” such as (in this case) costs to the “national 

pig population,” “animal husbandry” traditions, and (again) 

“industry practice.” Post, at 399–402; see also post, at 405– 

407 (opinion of Kavanaugh, J.). But not even petitioners 

read Pike so boldly. While petitioners argue that Proposition 

12 does not beneft pigs (as California has asserted), they have 

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Opinion of the Court 

not asked this Court (or any court) to treat putative harms 

to out-of-state animal welfare or other noneconomic interests 

as freestanding harms cognizable under the dormant Commerce Clause. Nor could they have proceeded otherwise. 

Our decisions have authorized claims alleging “burdens on 

commerce.” Davis, 553 U. S., at 353. They do not provide 

judges “a roving license” to reassess the wisdom of state 

legislation in light of any conceivable out-of-state interest, 

economic or otherwise. United Haulers, 550 U. S., at 343.4 

V 

Before the Constitution's passage, Rhode Island imposed 

special taxes on imported “New-England Rum”; Connecticut 

levied duties on goods “brought into th[e] State, by Land or 

Water, from any of the United States of America”; and Virginia taxed “vessels coming within th[e S]tate from any of 

the United States.” An Act Laying Certain Duties of Excise Upon Certain Articles, Feb. 24, 1783 R. I. Acts and Resolves 45; An Act for Levying and Collecting a Duty on Certain Articles of Goods, Wares and Merchandize Imported 

into this State, by Land or Water, 1784 Conn. Acts and Laws 

4 Both dissents seek to characterize today's decision as “fractured” in an 

effort to advance their own overbroad readings of Pike and layer their 

own gloss on opinions they do not join. Post, at 403, 410 (opinion of Kavanaugh, J.); see also post at 395–397, 401–403 (opinion of Roberts, C. J.). 

But the dissents are just that—dissents. Their glosses do not speak for 

the Court. Today, the Court unanimously disavows petitioners' “almost 

per se” rule against laws with extraterritorial effects. See Parts II and 

III, supra. When it comes to Pike, a majority agrees that heartland Pike 

cases seek to smoke out purposeful discrimination in state laws (as illuminated by those laws' practical effects) or seek to protect the instrumentalities of interstate transportation. See Part IV–A, supra. A majority also 

rejects any effort to expand Pike's domain to cover cases like this one, 

some of us for reasons found in Part IV–B, others of us for reasons discussed in Part IV–C. Today's decision depends equally on the analysis 

found in both of these sections; without either, there is no explaining the 

Court's judgment affrming the decision below. A majority also subscribes to what follows in Part V. 
390 NATIONAL PORK PRODUCERS COUNCIL v. ROSS 

Opinion of the Court 

271; An Act to Amend the Act for Ascertaining Certain 

Taxes and Duties, and for Establishing a Permanent Revenue (May 6, 1782), in 11 Statues at Large, Laws of Virginia 

70 (W. Hening ed. 1823). 

Whether moved by this experience or merely worried that 

more States might join the bandwagon, the Framers 

equipped Congress with considerable power to regulate interstate commerce and preempt contrary state laws. See 

U. S. Const., Art. I, § 8, cl. 3; Art. IV, § 2; see also Regan, 84 

Mich. L. Rev., at 1114, n. 55; A. Abel, The Commerce Clause 

in the Constitutional Convention and in Contemporary Comment, 25 Minn. L. Rev. 432, 448–449 (1941). In the years 

since, this Court has inferred an additional judicially enforceable rule against certain, especially discriminatory, state 

laws adopted even against the backdrop of congressional silence. But “ `extreme caution' ” is warranted before a court 

deploys this implied authority. Tracy, 519 U. S., at 310 

(quoting Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Minnesota, 322 U. S. 292, 

302 (1944) (Black, J., concurring)). Preventing state offcials 

from enforcing a democratically adopted state law in the 

name of the dormant Commerce Clause is a matter of “extreme delicacy,” something courts should do only “where the 

infraction is clear.” Conway v. Taylor's Executor, 1 Black 

603, 634 (1862). 

Petitioners would have us cast aside caution for boldness. 

They have failed—repeatedly—to persuade Congress to use 

its express Commerce Clause authority to adopt a uniform 

rule for pork production. And they disavow any reliance on 

this Court's core dormant Commerce Clause teachings focused on discriminatory state legislation. Instead, petitioners invite us to endorse two new theories of implied judicial 

power. They would have us recognize an “almost per se” 

rule against the enforcement of state laws that have “extraterritorial effects”—even though this Court has recognized 

since Gibbons that virtually all state laws create ripple effects beyond their borders. Alternatively, they would have 

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Sotomayor, J., concurring in part 

us prevent a State from regulating the sale of an ordinary 

consumer good within its own borders on nondiscriminatory 

terms—even though the Pike line of cases they invoke has 

never before yielded such a result. Like the courts that 

faced this case before us, we decline both of petitioners' incautious invitations. 

The judgment of the Ninth Circuit is 

Affrmed. 

Justice Sotomayor, with whom Justice Kagan joins, 

concurring in part. 

I join all but Parts IV–B and IV–D of Justice Gorsuch's 

opinion. Given the fractured nature of Part IV, I write separately to clarify my understanding of why petitioners' Pike 

claim fails. In short, I vote to affrm the judgment because 

petitioners fail to allege a substantial burden on interstate 

commerce as required by Pike, not because of any fundamental reworking of that doctrine. 

* * * 

In Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U. S. 137 (1970), the 

Court distilled a general principle from its prior cases. 

“Where [a] statute regulates even-handedly to effectuate a 

legitimate local public interest, and its effects on interstate 

commerce are only incidental, it will be upheld unless the 

burden imposed on such commerce is clearly excessive in relation to the putative local benefts.” Id., at 142. Further, 

“the extent of the burden that will be tolerated will of course 

depend on the nature of the local interest involved, and on 

whether it could be promoted as well with a lesser impact 

on interstate activities.” Ibid. 

As the Court's opinion here explains, Pike's balancing and 

tailoring principles are most frequently deployed to detect 

the presence or absence of latent economic protectionism. 

See ante, at 377–380. That is no surprise. Warding off 

state discrimination against interstate commerce is at the 

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Sotomayor, J., concurring in part 

heart of our dormant Commerce Clause jurisprudence. See 

ante, at 369, 371–373, 377–378. 

As the Court's opinion also acknowledges, however, the 

Court has “generally le[ft] the courtroom door open” to 

claims premised on “even nondiscriminatory burdens.” Department of Revenue of Ky. v. Davis, 553 U. S. 328, 353 

(2008); see ante, at 379. Indeed, “a small number” of this 

Court's cases in the Pike line “have invalidated state laws 

. . . that appear to have been genuinely nondiscriminatory” 

in nature. General Motors Corp. v. Tracy, 519 U. S. 278, 298, 

n. 12 (1997); see ante, at 379. Often, such cases have addressed state laws that impose burdens on the arteries of 

commerce, on “trucks, trains, and the like.” Ibid., n. 2. 

Yet, there is at least one exception to that tradition. See 

Edgar v. MITE Corp., 457 U. S. 624, 643–646 (1982) (invalidating a nondiscriminatory state law that regulated tender 

offers to shareholders). 

Pike claims that do not allege discrimination or a burden 

on an artery of commerce are further from Pike's core. As 

The Chief Justice recognizes, however, the Court today 

does not shut the door on all such Pike claims. See ante, at 

379–380, and n. 2; post, at 395–396. Thus, petitioners' failure to allege discrimination or an impact on the instrumentalities of commerce does not doom their Pike claim. 

Nor does a majority of the Court endorse the view that 

judges are not up to the task that Pike prescribes. Justice 

Gorsuch, for a plurality, concludes that petitioners' Pike 

claim fails because courts are incapable of balancing economic burdens against noneconomic benefts. See ante, at 

380–383. I do not join that portion of Justice Gorsuch's 

opinion. I acknowledge that the inquiry is diffcult and delicate, and federal courts are well advised to approach the 

matter with caution. See ante, at 390. Yet, I agree with 

The Chief Justice that courts generally are able to weigh 

disparate burdens and benefts against each other, and that 

they are called on to do so in other areas of the law with 

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Barrett, J., concurring in part 

some frequency. See post, at 396–397. The means-ends 

tailoring analysis that Pike incorporates is likewise familiar 

to courts and does not raise the asserted incommensurability 

problems that trouble Justice Gorsuch. 

In my view, and as Justice Gorsuch concludes for a separate plurality of the Court, petitioners' Pike claim fails for a 

much narrower reason. Reading petitioners' allegations in 

light of the Court's decision in Exxon Corp. v. Governor of 

Maryland, 437 U. S. 117 (1978), the complaint fails to allege 

a substantial burden on interstate commerce. See ante, at 

383–387. Alleging a substantial burden on interstate commerce is a threshold requirement that plaintiffs must satisfy 

before courts need even engage in Pike's balancing and tailoring analyses. Because petitioners have not done so, they 

fail to state a Pike claim. 

Justice Barrett, concurring in part. 

A state law that burdens interstate commerce in clear excess of its putative local benefts funks Pike balancing. 

Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U. S. 137, 142 (1970). In 

most cases, Pike's “general rule” refects a commonsense 

principle: Where there's smoke, there's fre. Ibid. Under 

our dormant Commerce Clause jurisprudence, one State may 

not discriminate against another's producers or consumers. 

A law whose burdens fall incommensurately and inexplicably 

on out-of-state interests may be doing just that. 

But to weigh benefts and burdens, it is axiomatic that both 

must be judicially cognizable and comparable. See Department of Revenue of Ky. v. Davis, 553 U. S. 328, 354–355 

(2008). I agree with Justice Gorsuch that the benefts 

and burdens of Proposition 12 are incommensurable. California's interest in eliminating allegedly inhumane products 

from its markets cannot be weighed on a scale opposite dollars and cents—at least not without second-guessing the 

moral judgments of California voters or making the kind of 

policy decisions reserved for politicians. Ante, at 380–383; 

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394 NATIONAL PORK PRODUCERS COUNCIL v. ROSS 

Opinion of Roberts, C. J. 

Davis, 553 U. S., at 360 (Scalia, J., concurring in part). None 

of our Pike precedents requires us to attempt such a feat. 

That said, I disagree with my colleagues who would hold 

that petitioners have failed to allege a substantial burden 

on interstate commerce. Ante, at 383–387; ante, at 393 (Sotomayor, J., concurring in part). The complaint plausibly 

alleges that Proposition 12's costs are pervasive, burdensome, and will be felt primarily (but not exclusively) outside 

California. See post, at 399–400 (Roberts, C. J., concurring 

in part and dissenting in part). For this reason, I do not 

join Part IV–C of Justice Gorsuch's opinion. If the burdens and benefts were capable of judicial balancing, I would 

permit petitioners to proceed with their Pike claim. 

Chief Justice Roberts, with whom Justice Alito, 

Justice Kavanaugh, and Justice Jackson join, concurring 

in part and dissenting in part. 

I agree with the Court's view in its thoughtful opinion that 

many of the leading cases invoking the dormant Commerce 

Clause are properly read as invalidating statutes that promoted economic protectionism. See ante, at 371–373. I 

also agree with the Court's conclusion that our precedent 

does not support a per se rule against state laws with “extraterritorial” effects. See ante, at 373–376. But I cannot 

agree with the approach adopted by some of my colleagues 

to analyzing petitioners' claim based on Pike v. Bruce 

Church, Inc., 397 U. S. 137, 142 (1970). See ante, at 377–380 

(majority opinion); ante, at 380–389 (opinion of Gorsuch, J.); 

ante, at 393 (Sotomayor, J., concurring in part); ante, at 393– 

394 (Barrett, J., concurring in part). 

Pike provides that nondiscriminatory state regulations are 

valid under the Commerce Clause “unless the burden imposed on [interstate] commerce is clearly excessive in relation to the putative local benefts.” 397 U. S., at 142. A 

majority of the Court thinks that petitioners' complaint does 

not make for “an auspicious start” on that claim. Ante, at 
Cite as: 598 U. S. 356 (2023) 395 

Opinion of Roberts, C. J. 

380. In my view, that is through no fault of their own. The 

Ninth Circuit misapplied our existing Pike jurisprudence in 

evaluating petitioners' allegations. I would fnd that petitioners have plausibly alleged a substantial burden against 

interstate commerce, and would therefore vacate the judgment and remand the case for the court below to decide 

whether petitioners have stated a claim under Pike. 

I 

The Ninth Circuit stated that “[w]hile the dormant Commerce Clause is not yet a dead letter, it is moving in that 

direction.” 6 F. 4th 1021, 1033 (2021). Today's majority 

does not pull the plug. For good reason: Although Pike 

is susceptible to misapplication as a freewheeling judicial 

weighing of benefts and burdens, it also refects the basic 

concern of our Commerce Clause jurisprudence that there be 

“free private trade in the national marketplace.” General 

Motors Corp. v. Tracy, 519 U. S. 278, 287 (1997) (quoting 

Reeves, Inc. v. Stake, 447 U. S. 429, 437 (1980)); see also Hunt 

v. Washington State Apple Advertising Comm'n, 432 U. S. 

333, 350 (1977) (Pike protects “a national `common market' ”). 

“Our system, fostered by the Commerce Clause, is that every 

farmer and every craftsman shall be encouraged to produce 

by the certainty that he will have free access to every market in the Nation, that no home embargoes will withhold 

his exports, and no foreign state will by customs duties or 

regulations exclude them.” H. P. Hood & Sons, Inc. v. Du 

Mond, 336 U. S. 525, 539 (1949). 

The majority's discussion of our Pike jurisprudence highlights two types of cases: those involving discriminatory 

state laws and those implicating the “instrumentalities of interstate transportation.” Ante, at 379, n. 2. But Pike has 

not been so narrowly typecast. As a majority of the Court 

acknowledges, “we generally leave the courtroom door open 

to plaintiffs invoking the rule in Pike, that even nondiscriminatory burdens on commerce may be struck down on a showPage Proof Pending Publication
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Opinion of Roberts, C. J. 

ing that those burdens clearly outweigh the benefts of a 

state or local practice.” Department of Revenue of Ky. v. 

Davis, 553 U. S. 328, 353 (2008); see also United Haulers 

Assn., Inc. v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management 

Authority, 550 U. S. 330, 346 (2007) (plurality opinion) (Pike 

applies to “a nondiscriminatory statute like this one”). Nor 

have our cases applied Pike only where a State regulates the 

instrumentalities of transportation. Pike itself addressed an 

Arizona law regulating cantaloupe packaging. See 397 U. S., 

at 138. And we have since applied Pike to invalidate nondiscriminatory state laws that do not concern transportation. 

Edgar v. MITE Corp., 457 U. S. 624, 643–646 (1982). As a 

majority of the Court agrees, Pike extends beyond laws 

either concerning discrimination or governing interstate 

transportation. See ante, at 392 (opinion of Sotomayor, J.); 

post, at 403 (Kavanaugh, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). 

Speaking for three Members of the Court, Justice Gorsuch objects that balancing competing interests under Pike 

is simply an impossible judicial task. See ante, at 380–383. 

I certainly appreciate the concern, see United Haulers, 550 

U. S., at 343, 347, but sometimes there is no avoiding the 

need to weigh seemingly incommensurable values. See, 

e. g., Schneider v. State (Town of Irvington), 308 U. S. 147, 

162 (1939) (weighing “the purpose to keep the streets clean 

and of good appearance” against the “the constitutional protection of the freedom of speech and press”); Winston v. Lee, 

470 U. S. 753, 760 (1985) (“The reasonableness” under the 

Fourth Amendment “of surgical intrusions beneath the skin 

depends on a case-by-case approach, in which the individual's 

interests in privacy and security are weighed against society's interests in conducting the procedure.”); Addington v. 

Texas, 441 U. S. 418, 425 (1979) (“In considering what standard should govern in a civil commitment proceeding, we must 

assess both the extent of the individual's interest in not being 

involuntarily confned indefnitely and the state's interest in 

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committing the emotionally disturbed under a particular 

standard of proof.”). Here too, a majority of the Court agrees 

that it is possible to balance benefts and burdens under the 

approach set forth in Pike. See ante, at 392–393 (opinion of 

Sotomayor, J.); post, at 403 (opinion of Kavanaugh, J.). 

II 

This case comes before us on a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, and in my view the court 

below erred in how it analyzed petitioners' allegations under 

Pike. The Ninth Circuit reasoned that “[f]or dormant Commerce Clause purposes, laws that increase compliance costs, 

without more, do not constitute a signifcant burden on interstate commerce.” 6 F. 4th, at 1032. The panel then dismissed petitioners' claim under Pike by concluding that the 

complaint alleged only an increase in compliance costs due 

to Proposition 12. 6 F. 4th, at 1033. But, as I read it, the 

complaint alleges more than simply an increase in “compliance costs,” unless such costs are defned to include all the 

fallout from a challenged regulatory regime. Petitioners 

identify broader, market-wide consequences of compliance— 

economic harms that our precedents have recognized can 

amount to a burden on interstate commerce. I would therefore fnd that petitioners have stated a substantial burden 

against interstate commerce, vacate the judgment below, and 

remand this case for the Ninth Circuit to consider whether 

petitioners have plausibly claimed that the burden alleged 

outweighs any “putative local benefts” under Pike. 397 

U. S., at 142. 

A 

Our precedents have long distinguished the costs of complying with a given state regulation from other economic 

harms to the interstate market. Bibb v. Navajo Freight 

Lines, Inc., 359 U. S. 520 (1959), illustrates the point. In 

that case, we considered an Illinois law requiring that trucks 

and trailers use a particular kind of mudguard. The “cost 
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of installing” the mudguards was “$30 or more per vehicle,” 

amounting to “$4,500 to $45,840” for the trucking companies 

at issue. Id., at 525. But beyond documenting those direct 

costs of complying with the Illinois law, we also noted other 

derivative harms fowing from the regulation. The mudguard rule threatened “signifcant delay in an operation 

where prompt movement may be of the essence.” Id., at 

527. Also, changing mudguard types when crossing into Illinois from a State with a different standard would require 

“two to four hours of labor” and could prove “exceedingly 

dangerous.” Ibid. We concluded that “[c]ost taken into 

consideration” together with those “other factors” could constitute a burden on interstate commerce. Id., at 526 (emphasis added). Subsequent cases followed Bibb's logic by 

analyzing economic impact to the interstate market separately from immediate costs of compliance. See Kassel v. 

Consolidated Freightways Corp. of Del., 450 U. S. 662, 674 

(1981) (plurality opinion) (separating “increas[ed] . . . costs” 

from the fact that the challenged “law may aggravate . . . 

the problem of highway accidents” in describing the burden 

on interstate commerce); Raymond Motor Transp., Inc. v. 

Rice, 434 U. S. 429, 445, and n. 21 (1978) (analyzing an increase in “cost” independently of other consequential effects, 

such as “slow[ing] the movement of goods”). 

Pike itself did not confate harms to the interstate market 

with compliance costs. In Pike, we analyzed an Arizona law 

requiring that cantaloupes grown in the State be packed 

prior to shipment across state lines. 397 U. S., at 138. We 

noted repeatedly that the regulation would require the appellee to construct an unneeded packing facility in Arizona 

at a cost of $200,000. Id., at 140, 144, 145. But we considered that cost together with the “nature” of a regulation 

“requiring business operations to be performed in the home 

State.” Id., at 145. The Court in Pike found both compliance costs and consequential market harms cognizable in determining whether the law at issue impermissibly burdened 

interstate commerce. 

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The derivative harms we have long considered in this context are in no sense “noneconomic.” Ante, at 389 (opinion 

of Gorsuch, J.). Regulations that “aggravate . . . the problem of highway accidents,” Kassel, 450 U. S., at 674, or “slow 

the movement of goods,” Rice, 434 U. S., at 445, impose economic burdens, even if those burdens may be diffcult to 

quantify and may not arise immediately. Our cases provide 

no license to chalk up every economic harm—no matter how 

derivative—to a mere cost of compliance. 

Nor can the foregoing cases be dismissed because they 

either involved the instrumentalities of transportation or 

a state law born of discriminatory purpose. As discussed 

above, we have applied Pike to state laws that neither concerned transportation nor discriminated against commerce. 

See Edgar, 457 U. S., at 643–646. The Pike balance may 

well come out differently when it comes to interstate transportation, an area presenting a strong interest in “national 

uniformity.” Tracy, 519 U. S., at 298, n. 12. But the error 

below does not concern a particular balancing of interests 

under Pike; it concerns how to analyze the burden on interstate commerce in the frst place. 

B 

As in our prior cases, petitioners here allege both compliance costs and consequential harms to the interstate market. 

With respect to compliance costs, petitioners allege that 

Proposition 12 demands signifcant capital expenditures for 

farmers who wish to sell into California. “Producers . . . 

will need to spend” between $290 and $348 million “of additional capital in order to reconstruct their sow housing and 

overcome the productivity loss that Proposition 12 imposes.” 

App. to Pet. for Cert. 214a. All told, compliance will “increase production costs per pig by over $13 dollars per head, 

a 9.2% cost increase at the farm level.” Ibid. 

Separate and apart from those costs, petitioners assert 

harms to the interstate market itself. The complaint alleges 

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ducers will be “forced to comply” with Proposition 12, “even 

though some or even most of the cuts from a hog are sold in 

other States.” Id., at 213a, 239a. Proposition 12 may not 

expressly regulate farmers operating out of state. But due 

to the nature of the national pork market, California has 

enacted rules that carry implications for producers as far 

fung as Indiana and North Carolina, whether or not they 

sell in California. The panel below acknowledged petitioners' allegation that, “[a]s a practical matter, given the interconnected nature of the nationwide pork industry, all or most 

hog farmers will be forced to comply with California requirements.” 6 F. 4th, at 1028. 

We have found such sweeping extraterritorial effects, even 

if not considered as a per se invalidation, to be pertinent in 

applying Pike. In Edgar, we assessed the constitutionality 

of an Illinois corporate takeover statute that authorized the 

secretary of state to scrutinize tender offers, even for transactions occurring wholly beyond the State's borders. As the 

majority explains, only a plurality of the Court in Edgar 

concluded that the Illinois statute constituted a per se violation of the dormant Commerce Clause. See ante, at 376, 

n. 1. But a majority in Edgar analyzed those same extraterritorial effects under our approach in Pike, concluding that 

the “nationwide reach” of Illinois's law constituted an “obvious burden . . . on interstate commerce.” 457 U. S., at 643. 

The Ninth Circuit did not consider whether, by effectively 

requiring compliance by farmers who do not even wish to 

ship their product into California, Proposition 12 has a 

“nationwide reach” similar to the regulation at issue in 

Edgar. 

The complaint further alleges other harms that cannot 

fairly be characterized as mere costs of compliance but that 

the panel below seems to have treated as such. Because of 

Proposition 12's square footage requirements, farms will be 

compelled to adopt group housing, which is likely to produce 

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ease.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 229a. Such housing changes 

will also “upen[d] generations of animal husbandry, training, 

and knowledge.” Id., at 211a. And “[b]y preventing the 

use of breeding stalls during the 30 to 40 day period between 

weaning and confrmation of pregnancy, Proposition 12 puts 

sows at greater risk of injury and stress during the vulnerable stages of breeding and gestation.” Id., at 223a. These 

consequential threats to animal welfare and industry practice are diffcult to quantify and are not susceptible to categorization as mere costs of compliance. 

Writing for a plurality of the Court, Justice Gorsuch 

relies on this Court's decision in Exxon Corp. v. Governor of 

Maryland, 437 U. S. 117 (1978), to conclude that petitioners' 

complaint does not plead a substantial burden against interstate commerce. See ante, at 383–387; see also ante, at 393 

(opinion of Sotomayor, J.) (also relying on Exxon). In 

Exxon, petroleum producers sued after Maryland prohibited 

their sale of retail gas within the State. 437 U. S., at 119. 

The Court concluded that “interstate commerce is not subjected to an impermissible burden simply because an otherwise valid regulation causes some business[es] to shift 

from one interstate supplier to another.” Id., at 127. Fair 

enough. But the complaint before us pleads facts going far 

beyond the allegations in Exxon. The producers in Exxon 

operated within Maryland and wished to continue doing so. 

By contrast, petitioners here allege that Proposition 12 will 

force compliance on farmers who do not wish to sell into the 

California market, exacerbate health issues in the national 

pig population, and undercut established operational practices. In my view, these allegations amount to economic 

harms against “the interstate market”—not just “particular 

interstate frms,” ibid.—such that they constitute a substantial burden under Pike. At the very least, the harms alleged by petitioners are categorically different from the cost 

of installing $30 mudguards, Bibb, 359 U. S., at 525, or of 
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constructing a $200,000 cantaloupe packing facility, Pike, 397 

U. S., at 140. 

Justice Gorsuch asks what separates my approach from 

the per se extraterritoriality rule I reject. Ante, at 387. It 

is the difference between mere cross-border effects and 

broad impact requiring, in this case, compliance even by producers who do not wish to sell in the regulated market. 

And even then, we only invalidate a regulation if that burden 

proves “clearly excessive in relation to the putative local 

benefts.” Pike, 397 U. S., at 142. Adhering to that established approach in this case would not convert the inquiry 

into a per se rule against extraterritorial regulation. 

Rather than analyze petitioners' alleged harms to the interstate market on their own terms, the Ninth Circuit 

reasoned that the “crux” of the complaint is “the cost of 

compliance with Proposition 12.” 6 F. 4th, at 1033. Such 

“cost increases,” the panel below concluded, “do not qualify 

as a substantial burden to interstate commerce.” Ibid. 

Those statements ignore the industry-wide harms discussed 

above. 

The panel below itself recognized that petitioners “plausibly alleged that Proposition 12 will have dramatic upstream 

effects and require pervasive changes to the pork production 

industry nationwide.” Ibid. Yet it nevertheless reduced 

the myriad harms detailed by petitioners in their complaint 

to so-called “compliance costs” and wrote them off as independently insuffcient to state a claim under Pike. Our 

precedents do not support such an approach. A majority of 

the Court agrees that—were it possible to balance benefts 

and burdens in this context—petitioners have plausibly 

stated a substantial burden against interstate commerce. 

See ante, at 394 (opinion of Barrett, J.) (“The complaint 

plausibly alleges that Proposition 12's costs are pervasive, 

burdensome, and will be felt primarily (but not exclusively) 

outside California.”). 

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* * * 

In my view, petitioners plausibly allege a substantial burden against interstate commerce. I would therefore remand 

the case for the Ninth Circuit to decide whether it is plausible that the “burden . . . is clearly excessive in relation to 

the putative local benefts.” Pike, 397 U. S., at 142. 

Justice Kavanaugh, concurring in part and dissenting 

in part. 

In today's fractured decision, six Justices of this Court affrmatively retain the longstanding Pike balancing test for 

analyzing dormant Commerce Clause challenges to state economic regulations. Ante, at 391–392 (Sotomayor, J., joined 

by Kagan, J., concurring in part); ante, at 395–396 (Roberts, C. J., joined by Alito, Kavanaugh, and Jackson, JJ., 

concurring in part and dissenting in part); see Pike v. Bruce 

Church, Inc., 397 U. S. 137 (1970). Although Parts IV–B 

and IV–D of Justice Gorsuch's opinion would essentially 

overrule the Pike balancing test, those subsections are not 

controlling precedent, as I understand it. 

But Part IV–C of Justice Gorsuch's opinion is controlling precedent for purposes of the Court's judgment as to 

the plaintiffs' Pike claim. There, a four-Justice plurality of 

the Court applies Pike and rejects the plaintiffs' dormant 

Commerce Clause challenge under Pike. The plurality reasons that the plaintiffs' complaint did not suffciently allege 

that the California law at issue here imposed a substantial 

burden on interstate commerce under Pike. I respectfully 

disagree with that conclusion for the reasons well stated in 

The Chief Justice's separate opinion.1 

I add this opinion to point out that state economic regulations like California's Proposition 12 may raise questions not 

1 The Court also unanimously rejects plaintiffs' separate claim under 

Healy v. Beer Institute, 491 U. S. 324 (1989). 

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only under the Commerce Clause, but also under the ImportExport Clause, the Privileges and Immunities Clause, and 

the Full Faith and Credit Clause. 

I 

In the 1780s, the Framers in Philadelphia and the people 

of the United States discarded the Articles of Confederation 

and adopted a new Constitution. They did so in order to, 

among other things, create a national economic market and 

overcome state restrictions on free trade—and thereby promote the general welfare. By the summer of 1787, when 

the delegates met in Philadelphia, state interference with 

interstate commerce was cutting off the lifeblood of the Nation. See Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Assn. v. 

Thomas, 588 U. S. –––, ––– (2019). For the delegates, therefore, “removing state trade barriers was a principal reason 

for the adoption of the Constitution.” Ibid. In the state 

ratifying conventions, moreover, “fostering free trade among 

the States was prominently cited as a reason for ratifcation.” 

Id., at –––. 

The Constitution crafted by the Framers contains several 

provisions protecting free trade among the States. The 

Constitution's protection of free trade among the States has 

resulted in an extraordinary 234-year record of progress: It 

has facilitated robust economic activity within the United 

States and has helped generate remarkable (albeit at times 

uneven) economic prosperity and growth in America relative 

to the other nations of the world. 

This case involves the American pork industry, which 

today is a $20 billion-plus industry that generates hundreds 

of thousands of American jobs and serves millions of American consumers. Importantly for this case, the vast majority 

of pig farms are located in States other than California— 

such as Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and North Carolina. And the vast majority of pork is likewise produced in 

States other than California. 

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In 2018, California voters nonetheless passed a ballot initiative, Proposition 12, that not only regulates pig farming 

and pork production in California, but also in effect regulates 

pig farming and pork production throughout the United 

States. Under Proposition 12, all pork sold to consumers in 

California must be derived from pigs raised in compliance 

with California's strict standards for pig farming, including 

California's minimum square footage of space required for 

housing individual pigs. By its terms, Proposition 12 applies to pigs raised and pork produced outside California. 

California's requirements for pig farms and pork production depart signifcantly from common agricultural practices 

that are lawful in major pig-farming and pork-producing 

States such as Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and North 

Carolina. See Brief for Indiana et al. as Amici Curiae 24– 

32. Moreover, according to various amici, some of the scientifc literature suggests that California's requirements 

could worsen animal health and welfare. See, e. g., Brief for 

American Association of Swine Veterinarians as Amicus Curiae 4–19; Brief for State Pork Producers Association of 

Iowa et al. as Amici Curiae 25–34. Regardless of whether 

the amici are correct on that point, it is evident that absent 

California's Proposition 12, relatively few pig farmers and 

pork producers in the United States would follow the practices that California now demands. Yet American pig farmers and pork producers have little choice but to comply with 

California's regulatory dictates. It would be prohibitively 

expensive and practically all but impossible for pig farmers 

and pork producers to segregate individual pigs based on 

their ultimate marketplace destination in California or elsewhere. And California's 13-percent share of the consumer 

pork market makes it economically infeasible for many pig 

farmers and pork producers to exit the California market. 

California's required changes to pig-farming and porkproduction practices throughout the United States will cost 

American farmers and pork producers hundreds of millions 

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(if not billions) of dollars. And those costs for pig farmers 

and pork producers will be passed on, in many cases, to 

American consumers of pork via higher pork prices nationwide. The increased costs may also result in lower wages 

and reduced benefts (or layoffs) for the American workers 

who work on pig farms and in meatpacking plants. See generally Brief for Indiana et al. as Amici Curiae 29–32; Brief 

for North Carolina Chamber Legal Institute et al. as Amici 

Curiae 9–13.2 

In short, through Proposition 12, California is forcing massive changes to pig-farming and pork-production practices 

throughout the United States. Proposition 12 therefore 

substantially burdens the interstate pork market. See ante, 

at 399–403 (opinion of Roberts, C. J.). 

Under the Constitution, Congress could enact a national 

law imposing minimum space requirements or other regulations on pig farms involved in the interstate pork market. 

In the absence of action by Congress, each State may of 

course adopt health and safety regulations for products 

sold in that State. And each State may regulate as it sees 

ft with respect to farming, manufacturing, and production 

practices in that State. Through Proposition 12, however, 

California has tried something quite different and unusual. 

It has attempted, in essence, to unilaterally impose its moral 

and policy preferences for pig farming and pork production 

on the rest of the Nation. It has sought to deny market 

access to out-of-state pork producers unless their farming 

and production practices in those other States comply with 

California's dictates. The State has aggressively pro2 The majority opinion dismisses this case as not presenting a “weighty” 

issue. Ante, at 364. That phrasing is misplaced. This case presents a 

weighty constitutional question, as the Framers surely would have recognized. And it is important for the American workers, farmers, and consumers who will be signifcantly affected by the outcome of today's 

decision. 

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pounded a “California knows best” economic philosophy— 

where California in effect seeks to regulate pig farming and 

pork production in all of the United States. California's approach undermines federalism and the authority of individual States by forcing individuals and businesses in one State 

to conduct their farming, manufacturing, and production 

practices in a manner required by the laws of a different 

State. 

Notably, future state laws of this kind might not be confned to the pork industry. As the amici brief of 26 States 

points out, what if a state law prohibits the sale of fruit 

picked by noncitizens who are unlawfully in the country? 

Brief for Indiana et al. as Amici Curiae 33. What if a state 

law prohibits the sale of goods produced by workers paid less 

than $20 per hour? Or as those States suggest, what if a 

state law prohibits “the retail sale of goods from producers 

that do not pay for employees' birth control or abortions” 

(or alternatively, that do pay for employees' birth control or 

abortions)? Ibid. 

If upheld against all constitutional challenges, California's 

novel and far-reaching regulation could provide a blueprint 

for other States. California's law thus may foreshadow a 

new era where States shutter their markets to goods 

produced in a way that offends their moral or policy preferences—and in doing so, effectively force other States to regulate in accordance with those idiosyncratic state demands. 

That is not the Constitution the Framers adopted in Philadelphia in 1787.3 

3 The portions of Justice Gorsuch's opinion that speak for only three 

Justices (Parts IV–B and IV–D) refer to The Chief Justice's opinion as 

a “dissent.” Ante, at 380–383, 387–389. But on the question of whether 

to retain the Pike balancing test in cases like this one, The Chief Justice's opinion refects the majority view because six Justices agree to 

retain the Pike balancing test: The Chief Justice and Justices Alito, 

Sotomayor, Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Jackson. On that legal issue, 

Justice Gorsuch's opinion advances a minority view. 

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II 

Thus far, legal challenges to California's Proposition 12 

have focused on the Commerce Clause and this Court's dormant Commerce Clause precedents. 

Although the Court today rejects the plaintiffs' dormant 

Commerce Clause challenge as insuffciently pled, state laws 

like Proposition 12 implicate not only the Commerce Clause, 

but also potentially several other constitutional provisions, 

including the Import-Export Clause, the Privileges and Immunities Clause, and the Full Faith and Credit Clause. 

First, the Import-Export Clause prohibits any State, absent “the Consent of the Congress,” from imposing “any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be 

absolutely necessary for executing” its “inspection Laws.” 

Art. I, § 10, cl. 2. This Court has limited that Clause to imports from foreign countries. See Woodruff v. Parham, 8 

Wall. 123, 133–136 (1869). As Justice Scalia and Justice 

Thomas have explained, that limitation may be mistaken as 

a matter of constitutional text and history: Properly interpreted, the Import-Export Clause may also prevent States 

“from imposing certain especially burdensome” taxes and 

duties on imports from other States—not just on imports 

from foreign countries. Comptroller of Treasury of Md. v. 

Wynne, 575 U. S. 542, 573 (2015) (Scalia, J., dissenting); see 

also Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison, 

520 U. S. 564, 621–637 (1997) (Thomas, J., dissenting); Brown 

v. Maryland, 12 Wheat. 419, 438−439, 449 (1827). 

In other words, if one State conditions sale of a good on 

the use of preferred farming, manufacturing, or production 

practices in another State where the good was grown or 

made, serious questions may arise under the Import-Export 

Clause. I do not take a position here on whether such 

an argument ultimately would prevail. I note only that 

the question warrants additional consideration in a future 

case. 

Second, the Privileges and Immunities Clause provides 

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leges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.” 

Art. IV, § 2, cl. 1; see South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., 585 

U. S. –––, ––– – ––– (2018) (Gorsuch, J., concurring); see also 

Tyler Pipe Industries, Inc. v. Washington State Dept. of 

Revenue, 483 U. S. 232, 265 (1987) (Scalia, J., concurring in 

part and dissenting in part); J. Eule, Laying the Dormant 

Commerce Clause To Rest, 91 Yale L. J. 425, 446−448 (1982). 

Under this Court's precedents, one State's efforts to effectively regulate farming, manufacturing, or production in 

other States could raise signifcant questions under that 

Clause. Again, I express no view on whether such an argument ultimately would prevail. But the issue warrants further analysis in a future case. 

Third, the Full Faith and Credit Clause requires each 

State to afford “Full Faith and Credit” to the “public Acts” 

of “every other State.” Art. IV, § 1. That Clause prevents 

States from “adopting any policy of hostility to the public 

Acts” of another State. Carroll v. Lanza, 349 U. S. 408, 413 

(1955). A State's effort to regulate farming, manufacturing, 

and production practices in another State (in a manner different from how that other State's laws regulate those practices) could in some circumstances raise questions under that 

Clause. See, e. g., M. Rosen, State Extraterritorial Powers 

Reconsidered, 85 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1133, 1153 (2010) 

(“[T]he Full Faith and Credit Clause is the more natural 

source for limitations on state extraterritorial powers because that clause at its core is concerned with extraterritoriality”); see also D. Laycock, Equal Citizens of Equal and Territorial States: The Constitutional Foundations of Choice of 

Law, 92 Colum. L. Rev. 249, 290, 296−301 (1992). 

For example, the plaintiffs in this case say that Ohio law 

expressly authorizes pig farmers in Ohio to do precisely what 

California's Proposition 12 forbids. Brief for Petitioners 30– 

31; see Ohio Admin. Code §§ 901:12−8−02(G)(4), (5) (2011). 

If so, the Full Faith and Credit Clause might preclude California from enacting conficting regulations on Ohio pig 

farmers. 

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Once again, I express no view on whether such an argument ultimately would succeed. But the question deserves 

further examination in a future case. 

* * * 

As I understand it, the controlling plurality of the Court 

(refected in Part IV–C of Justice Gorsuch’s opinion) today 

rejects the plaintiffs' dormant Commerce Clause challenge 

on the ground that the plaintiffs' complaint does not suffciently allege that the California law at issue here imposes a 

substantial burden on interstate commerce under Pike. See 

ante, at 383–387 (plurality opinion); ante, at 391–393 (opinion 

of Sotomayor, J.). It appears, therefore, that properly pled 

dormant Commerce Clause challenges under Pike to laws 

like California's Proposition 12 (or even to Proposition 12 itself) could succeed in the future—or at least survive past the 

motion-to-dismiss stage. Regardless, it will be important in 

future cases to consider that state laws like Proposition 12 

also may raise substantial constitutional questions under 

the Import-Export Clause, the Privileges and Immunities 

Clause, and the Full Faith and Credit Clause. 

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Reporter’s Note 

The attached opinion has been revised to refect the usual publication 

and citation style of the United States Reports. The revised pagination 

makes available the offcial United States Reports citation in advance of 

publication. The syllabus has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions 

for the convenience of the reader and constitutes no part of the opinion of 

the Court. A list of counsel who argued or fled briefs in this case, and 

who were members of the bar of this Court at the time this case was 

argued, has been inserted following the syllabus. Other revisions may 

include adjustments to formatting, captions, citation form, and any errant 

punctuation. The following additional edits were made: 

p. 356, line 8 from bottom, “6 4th 1021” is replaced with “6 F. 4th 1021” 

p. 397, line 10 from bottom, “interests” is replaced with “benefts”