Delcianna Winders (Vermont Law School), Farmed Animal Welfare: Improvements and Developments (North America)(Handbook on Global Animal Law, Oxford University Press, Anne Peters, Kristen Stilt, & Saskia Stucki, eds.) (forthcoming 2024):
Recent North American legal developments pertaining to farmed animal welfare include increased, but still limited, cruelty prosecutions; a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court upholding states’ rights to enact bans on the sale of products made using cruel confinement systems; continued efforts to deregulate slaughter, including to increase or remove slaughter speed limits; increased, but still inadequate, attention to humanewashing; and unprecedented animal welfare requirements for certified organic products. Overall, these developments reflect heightened attention to farmed animal welfare but still limited legal oversight. Some of these developments, particularly the decision establishing the constitutionality of bans on products made using cruel confinement systems and organic animal welfare standards, might serve as a foundation for more robust legal requirements. Other potential trajectories also warrant heightened attention, including the creation of a non-criminal regulatory licensing, inspection, and enforcement regime with detailed welfare standards and an independent animal protection agency.