“The People vs the Poison” protesters gather at the US Supreme Court on April 27, 2026 in Washington, DC.Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
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On Monday, the US Supreme Court heard arguments over Bayer AG’s efforts to shut down the thousands of lawsuits alleging its product Roundup, a weedkiller containing glyphosate, causes people to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.
Bayer, a German company which bought the American agrochemical giant Monsanto, has spent the better part of a decade fighting more than 100,000 lawsuits from plaintiffs seeking “billions and billions” of dollars. Glyphosate has been linked to cancer in numerous studies, but the Environmental Protection Agency maintains that it is “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.” President Trump, meanwhile, has declared glyphosate “critical to national defense,” and signed an executive order to boost production of the weedkiller.
In court today, Bayer is seeking a ruling that would give it legal immunity from lawsuits by cancer patients and their families. Some of those same cancer patients showed up in front of the Supreme Court to protest today—as did an improbable cast of characters.
Make America Healthy Again influencers like “The Food Babe” and “The Glyphosate Girl” streamed from D.C. Monday—but more mainstream figures like Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) spoke at the rally outside the Supreme Court, too, as did environmental activists with groups like the Center for Biological Diversity.
On the legislative end of things, meanwhile, Representatives Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) are teaming up against Bayer’s lobbyists, who are attempting to pass a provision in the 2026 Farm Bill that would permanently prevent state and local governments from issuing warnings about the risks of pesticides, giving Bayer even greater legal immunity.
“This is not to grant farmers immunity. This is to grant corporations immunity,” Massie said earlier this month. “If farmers contract cancer from this chemical, if this makes it into the Farm Bill you won’t be able to sue.”
As the Farm Bill moves through Congress and the Roundup case moves through the Supreme Court, government agencies are still using massive amounts of glyphosate, as a new investigation by my colleague Nate Halverson reveals.