From the HERE City State Desk
A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit challenging Michigan’s ban on selling eggs from hens kept in cages that fall short of state housing standards.
U.S. District Judge Jane M. Beckering of the Western District of Michigan ruled that the federal government had not shown it was harmed by the state law, a requirement for the case to move forward. Because the court lacked jurisdiction, Beckering did not decide whether federal law overrides the Michigan rules. The case was dismissed without prejudice.
The administration filed suit in January, arguing that the state rules are preempted by the federal Egg Products Inspection Act, passed in 1970, and that Michigan had contributed to a cost-of-living crisis. The administration described the case as part of its effort to bring down food prices.
Michigan’s requirements, which took effect in 2019, set standards such as usable floor space for each hen and bar businesses from knowingly selling eggs in the state that come from hens confined in other ways, including eggs from farms in other states.
The state, Agriculture Director Timothy Boring and Attorney General Dana Nessel were named as defendants. Michigan Allied Poultry Industries and several animal welfare groups joined the case on the state’s side and also sought dismissal.
In her opinion, Beckering wrote that a potentially preempted state law does not by itself injure the federal government, and that the complaint did not explain how Michigan’s enforcement of the ban interfered with federal enforcement of the egg inspection law.