WASHINGTON (October 21, 2025) – A Massachusetts court recently upheld most of the state’s landmark animal welfare law: the 2016 Act to Prevent Cruelty to Farm Animals. The state also struck down a “slaughterhouse exemption” that it found violated the dormant Commerce Clause. The ruling, which mirrors litigation surrounding California’s Proposition 12, raises constitutional questions about state authority to regulate farm animal confinement and out-of-state agricultural practices.
For more context on the matter, please consider Kathy Hessler, assistant dean for animal law at the George Washington University Law School. Hessler has been teaching animal law for over two decades and serves as the inaugural dean for Animal Legal Education at GW. Hessler currently serves on the board of the Center for Teaching Peace and is a fellow at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.
If you would like to schedule an interview with Professor Hessler, please contact Claire Sabin at claire [dot] sabin
gwu [dot] edu (claire[dot]sabin[at]gwu[dot]edu).
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