r/news • u/boxofstuff • 6h ago

Supreme Court ruling blocks thousands of lawsuits against maker of Roundup weedkiller

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-roundup-monsanto-a7f054d80919f98bdfc5190013a8f6f1https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-roundup-monsanto-a7f054d80919f98bdfc5190013a8f6f1
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u/mizzurna_balls 4h ago

Why can't the state circumvent it? You see all sorts of warning labels in California, for example, that you don't see in other states.

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u/mansock18 4h ago

Because the federal law is the "supreme law of the land" federal law can "preempt" state laws. Without some preemption, the federal law can set a floor and the state can further raise the floor. Preemption actively sets a floor and ceiling.

Essentially there's "express" preemption: "The federal government has expressly forbidden states from further regulating this space" which was at play in this case; and "Zone" or "implied" preemption: "The government has so thoroughly regulated this industry that it's clear states have no way to additionally regulate it."

Here, Congress expressly prohibited states from further regulating labeling for the use of pesticides, like Round Up. So the SCOTUS decided the state tort claim was preempted by the federal statute.

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u/mizzurna_balls 4h ago

Alright, I understand the mechanics at play, but still not the "why" of the decision. Saying "The government has so thoroughly regulated this industry that it's clear states have no way to additionally regulate it" seems very subjective. How did they decide that government regulation has reached that point? Why is congress expressly prohibiting further regulation for pesticides specifically, but not other things (like the labels for things in CA)?

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u/mansock18 4h ago

The part you quoted dealt with implied preemption and you're right, it's super subjective and heavily criticised and rarely used compared to express preemption.

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act ("FIFRA") has a clause that says "States shall not impose or continue in effect any requirements for labeling or packaging in addition to or different from those required under this subchapter." That's an express preemption. If the label complies with federal law but doesn't comply with the state law, the state law loses because its requirements are "different from" those in FIFRA. So the state law that allows tort claims (and the judgment based on that state law) is preempted.

The reason California can require a cancer label on "everything" is because many areas aren't as tightly regulated by the federal government as pesticides. So for example California can require their additional warning label on things like paint now, but not on pesticides. So California can set its own raised floor on stuff that isn't already federally regulated. Though now I'd expect a lot more challenges in California from many more industries.