This Article explores the harms the industrialized agricultural
industry creates and the legal protections the industry enjoys in
environmental law, animal cruelty law, labor law, anti-terrorism law,
and through heightened protections in trespass and libel law. While
other articles have explored the First Amendment implications of laws
known as “ag-gag,” and other specific aspects of the harms created by
factory farming, this Article serves as a comprehensive overview of the
exceptional protection afforded to the industry across various areas of
law. This Article joins the important discussion of the need to recognize the deficiencies in and revolutionize the industrialized production
of animals in the United States. The first steps towards
actualizing this revolution are removing the industry from its sphere
of legal protection, using the law to hold the industry accountable for
its harm, and encouraging a change in industry practices through a
shift in law.