By Mary Hightower U of A System Division of Agriculture
Feb. 11, 2026
Stephen Vaden, deputy secretary of agriculture, addressed several topics during a Jan. 21, 2026, webinar. (NALC image)
Fast Facts:
- Deputy Sec. of Agriculture Vaden: Prop 12 puts up “domestic trade barriers”
- Prop 12 one of several topics addressed in Jan. 21 National Ag Law Center webinar
- Webinar recording available online
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — California’s Proposition 12, which regulates space requirements for farm animals, should be struck down, said Stephen Vaden, deputy secretary of agriculture.
Prop 12, as it’s known, was passed by California voters in 2018. The regulation has two components. First, it bars confinement of specific types of farm animals in “a cruel manner” within the state of California. Second, it prohibits sale of products within the state that were made from animals confined in a manner outlined by the law.
Considering California’s large population and its market share, “the effect of the law is considerable,” said Beth Rumley, senior staff attorney for the National Agricultural Law Center. “It applies the standards set by California voters to animals in every state that are produced for sale in California.”
Court challenges
The law was challenged in 2019 in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, where plaintiffs argued that the law violated the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court disagreed, allowing it to be enforced.
However, “California’s law was unconstitutional and should be struck down,” Vaden said, speaking to an audience of nearly 1,000 attendees at a webinar hosted by the National Agricultural Law Center on Jan. 21.
“How amazing is it that from the left and right, from the Trump administration to the Biden administration, people of many different policy views, different legal, different legal regimes in terms of whether they’re originalists or living constitution-type people, took a look at this statute and said, ‘this cannot stand.’”
Vaden said, “The Commerce Clause gave power to Congress, not to the executive branch, not to the several legislatures of the many states, but solely to the federal Congress to regulate interstate commerce.”
He argues that Prop 12 puts up “domestic trade barriers in our own country” at a time when “our country is working diligently to knock down foreign trade barriers to American farmers selling their goods overseas.”
Before being appointed to his USDA position, Vaden served as a judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade and as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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