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SAN FRANCISCO — California’s ban on the sale of pork from “downer” pigs, those that were too feeble to walk before being slaughtered, can’t be enforced because a less stringent federal law regulates slaughterhouse inspections, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday.

State lawmakers enacted the ban in 2008 after a Humane Society video showed immobile cows being kicked, dragged, shocked and rammed with forklifts at a warehouse in San Bernardino County. Advocates said meat from those animals was more likely to be diseased.

Federal law forbids the sale of meat from animals suffering from serious diseases, a ban that recent regulations extended to cattle that were unable to walk. But federal law allows meat sales from downer pigs and other nonambulatory animals, like sheep and goats, that pass federal inspection.

Court challenges from meat processors and packers prevented the California law from taking effect. A federal appeals court upheld the California statute in 2010, but the Obama administration joined the National Meat Association in a successful Supreme Court appeal.

The high court said federal law was intended to set uniform standards for humane handling and slaughter at the nation’s slaughterhouses by prohibiting states from imposing additional requirements on the slaughterhouses.