Maryland Puppy-Mill Statute Survives Federal Law Challenges

A Maryland law that prohibits the sale of dogs in retail stores doesn’t violate the commerce clause and isn’t preempted by the federal Animal Welfare Act, the Fourth Circuit said Wednesday.

The statute, which was adopted to promote the humane treatment of animals, is among several evolving laws passed in Maryland over the past 12 years aimed at stopping the sale of dogs (or cats) bred in “puppy mills,” said Judge Allison Jones Rushing in an opinion for the US Court Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. This 2021 law “allows breeders to sell dogs in Maryland, both in ...