Legal and animal welfare experts available for interviews
WASHINGTON (January 23, 2026)—Humane World for Animals and Humane World Action Fund, formerly called Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society Legislative Fund, issued the following statements and background for media regarding the U.S. Department of Justice filing a lawsuit against Michigan’s Cage-Free Egg Law.
“This latest lawsuit is a shameful copycat of the one DOJ filed against California’s Proposition 12, and it shows just how desperate this Justice Department is to protect factory farm cruelty instead of animals,” said Kitty Block, president of Humane World for Animals. “Laws like Michigan’s exist because the reality of industrial egg production is unconscionable: hens trapped in feces-encrusted wire cages so small they can’t even spread their wings. These cage-free laws simply require that hens be given enough space to walk, spread their wings, and lay eggs in nest boxes, which are vital natural behaviors that should never have been denied in the first place.”
“More than 45% of the U.S. egg industry is already cage-free, yet lawsuits like this target bipartisan animal welfare laws for one reason: to protect the narrowest, most outdated interests in the industry,” said Sara Amundson, president of Humane World Action Fund. “They don’t serve animals, farmers who invested to comply, or the millions of Americans across red, blue, and purple states who support humane treatment. They serve only those determined to cling to the cruelest, cheapest practices, even if it means punishing responsible producers and overturning state laws.”
Michigan is one of 11 states that bans the use of cages for egg-laying hens and one of eight states that bans the sale of eggs from cage facilities. The Cage-Free Egg Law, which improved upon earlier legislation, was passed with strong bipartisan support in 2019 and went into effect Dec. 31, 2024.
“We are confident this law, which protects animals from extreme cruelty and Michigan families from necessary food safety risks, will be upheld in court like similar laws consistently have been,” said Mitchell Nelson, Michigan state director for Humane World for Animals.
This lawsuit seeks to blame high egg prices nationwide on humane farm animal laws that have been upheld time and again by the courts, including the Supreme Court. Yet, the Michigan poultry industry and experts agree that cage-free legislation is not driving egg prices:
- Nancy Barr, executive director for the Michigan Allied Poultry Industries, to the Detroit News in 2024: “Will the egg prices go up because of our cage-free law? I don’t think so. We already have enough cage-free supply for the state of Michigan.”
- David Ortega, food economist and professor at Michigan State University, to Bridge Michigan in 2024: “In order to get prices back down, we have to address the source of why they’ve increased and in this case, it’s because of the effects of the bird flu on production.”
For more information about how Humane World for Animals and Humane World Action Fund are working to protect Michigan’s Cage-Free Law and others around the country, visit: humaneaction.org/protect-state-laws.
Media Contact: Liz Bartolomeo: 240-472-0475, ebartolomeo@humaneworld.org
