Farm Sanctuary v. United States Department of Agriculture

── Farm Sanctuary v. United States Department of Agriculture ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Date: April 16, 2026 Category: General 24-382-cv Farm Sanctuary v. United States Department of Agriculture UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT SUMMARY ORDER RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL. At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York, on the 16th day of April, two thousand twenty-six. Present: GERARD E. LYNCH, WILLIAM J. NARDINI, STEVEN J. MENASHI, Circuit Judges. _____________________________________ FARM SANCTUARY, ANIMAL EQUALITY, ANIMAL OUTLOOK, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. 24-382-cv UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD SAFETY INSPECTION SERVICE, Defendants-Appellees. ∗ _____________________________________ For Plaintiffs-Appellants: PIPER HOFFMAN (Jareb Gleckel, on the brief), Animal Outlook, Washington, DC. For Defendant-Appellee: STEVEN H. HAZEL (Yaakov M. Roth, Michael DiGiacomo, Thomas Pulham, and Benjamin M. ∗ The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to amend the caption as set forth above.  Shultz, on the brief), United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC; Brigham J. Bowen, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC. Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Elizabeth A. Wolford, District Judge). UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED. Plaintiffs-Appellants Farm Sanctuary, Animal Equality, and Animal Outlook appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, entered on December 13, 2023, granting summary judgment in favor of Defendants-Appellees the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) and its component, the Food Safety Inspection Service (“FSIS”). Plaintiffs are three “nonprofit organizations working to protect animals, people, and environments from industrial animal agriculture, and to ensure that laws intended to regulate industrial agriculture are properly implemented.” Special App’x 1. Plaintiffs filed suit to challenge the USDA’s and the FSIS’s adoption by rule of the New Swine Inspection System (“NSIS”). See 84 Fed. Reg. 52300, 52345 (amending 9 C.F.R. Part 309). In their amended complaint, Plaintiffs argued that the portion of the NSIS that revised the antemortem inspection practices for pigs at participating slaughterhouses, 9 C.F.R. § 309.19, violates portions of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (“FMIA”), 21 U.S.C. §§ 601-695, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (“HMSA”), 7 U.S.C. §§ 1901-1907, and the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. §§ 701-706. Plaintiffs take issue primarily with the section of the NSIS that allows slaughterhouse employees to conduct an antemortem pre-sorting of pigs eligible for slaughter