(Originally published by Reason on October 11, 2022) 

Prof. McConnell is one of the top constitutional law scholars in the country, and I was delighted that he passed along this item on National Pork Producers Council v. Ross. (Disclosure: He participated in drafting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce amicus brief in the case, but the views expressed here are his own, not those of the Chamber.)

National Pork Producers Council v. Ross may be one of the most consequential cases of the Term, and I don’t just mean for the price of pork chops. A few states, most importantly California, are such large markets that—if the Supreme Court does not intervene—they can impose their notions of proper standards of production on every other state in the Union, at little cost to themselves. Because nationwide producers often cannot segment their markets, producers will be forced to follow California rules for the whole country, or face the crippling consequence of exclusion from the California market.

(Continue reading the opinion essay on Reason’s page here.)