SEEMS NOT TO BE REALLY CLEAR ABOUT HOW MARKETS WORK:

[O]ther times [California's extra jurisdictional power-grabs] involves regulations, like California's sweeping consumer privacy legislation or auto emissions standards. In all these cases, California took advantage of its status as the largest state economy in the country to effectively impose national law from Sacramento.

The Supreme Court's opportunity to rein this in comes in the form of yet another regulation on out-of-state businesses -- requiring pork producers selling into California to comply with requirements on the size of pig enclosures. By agreeing to hear the case of National Pork Producers v. Ross, the Court gave itself the opportunity not only to put California back within its own jurisdiction, but also to create a stronger precedent nationwide that a state's authority ends where its borders do.

At issue in this case is not the merits of regulations on the size of pig enclosures, but California's ability to impose them. The law being challenged requires all pork sold into California to abide by certain size requirements for pig enclosures. 

Note the way the law is written -- had California attempted to regulate pen sizes for California producers, there would be no constitutional issue. But since California imports 99.87 percent of its pork, the state no doubt determined that it would be far more impactful to regulate sales into the state.

As a state that represents roughly 15 percent of the national pork market, California leaves out-of-state producers with two bad choices. Either they must make costly alterations to their pig enclosures, or cut out a major market. Whichever option they choose, pork producers in Iowa will lose money as a result of a law passed in a state halfway across the country.

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