Trump administration sues California over egg prices and blames animal
welfare laws
[July 12, 2025] By
STEVE KARNOWSKI
The Trump administration is suing the state of California to block
animal welfare laws that it says unconstitutionally helped send egg
prices soaring. But a group that spearheaded the requirements pushed
back, blaming bird flu for the hit to consumers' pocketbooks.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California on Wednesday,
challenges voter initiatives that passed in 2018 and 2008. They require
that all eggs sold in California come from cage-free hens.
The Trump administration says the law imposes burdensome red tape on the
production of eggs and egg products across the country because of the
state's outsize role in the national economy.
“It is one thing if California passes laws that affects its own State,
it is another when those laws affect other States in violation of the
U.S. Constitution,” U.S. Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement
Thursday. "Thankfully, President Trump is standing up against this
overreach.”
Egg prices soared last year and earlier this year due in large part to
bird flu, which has forced producers to destroy nearly 175 million birds
since early 2022. But prices have come down sharply recently. While the
Trump administration claims credit for that, seasonal factors are also
important. Avian influenza, which is spread by wild birds, tends to
spike during the spring and fall migrations and drop in summer.
“Pointing fingers won’t change the fact that it is the President’s
economic policies that have been destructive," the California Department
of Justice said in a statement Friday. "We’ll see him in court.”
The average national price for a dozen Grade A eggs declined to $5.12 in
April and $4.55 in May after reaching a record $6.23 in March, according
to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the May price was still
68.5% higher than a year earlier.
“Trump’s back to his favorite hobby: blaming California for literally
everything,” Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said in a social media post.
The federal complaint alleges that California contributed to the rise in
egg prices with regulations that forced farmers across the country to
adopt more expensive production practices. The lawsuit also asserts that
it is the federal government's legal prerogative to regulate egg
production. So it seeks to permanently block enforcement of the
California regulations that flowed from the two ballot measures.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., gives remarks to a crowd at St. Paul
First Baptist Church on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Laurens, S.C.
(AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
 “Americans across the country have
suffered the consequences of liberal policies causing massive
inflation for everyday items like eggs,” Attorney General Pam Bondi
said in a statement. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we will
use the full extent of federal law to ensure that American families
are free from oppressive regulatory burdens and restore American
prosperity.”
While 2018's Proposition 12 also banned the sale of pork and veal in
California from animals raised in cages that don’t meet minimum size
requirements, the lawsuit only focuses on the state's egg rules.
Humane World for Animals, which was named the Humane Society of the
United States when it spearheaded the passage of Proposition 12,
says avian influenza and other factors drove up egg prices, not
animal welfare laws. And it says much of the U.S. egg industry went
cage-free anyway because of demand from consumers who don't want
eggs from hens confined to tiny spaces.
“California has prohibited the sale of cruelly produced eggs for
more than a decade — law that has been upheld by courts at every
level, including the Supreme Court. Blaming 2025 egg prices on these
established animal welfare standards shows that this case is about
pure politics, not constitutional law,” Sara Amundson, president of
the Humane World Action Fund, said in a statement.
The American Egg Board, which represents the industry, said Friday
that it will monitor the progress of the lawsuit while continuing to
comply with California’s laws, and that it appreciates Rollins’
efforts to support farmers in their fight against bird flu and to
stabilize the egg supply.
“Egg farmers have been both responsive and responsible in meeting
changing demand for cage-free eggs, while supporting all types of
egg production, and continuing to provide options in the egg case
for consumers,” the board said in a statement.
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