[twoodfin]

The Feds can't say "you can't regulate in a way we don't like" to the states.

They absolutely can when it comes to interstate commerce, which by precedent has a rather broad definition under which this kind of regulation easily fits.

Dole was about using spending power to constrain vaguely related state legislative powers. Not the same thing at all.

National Pork Producers Council v. Ross is much more relevant:

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-468_5if6.pdf

If Congress had spoken on pork labeling requirements, California would have been out of luck under the Commerce Clause. But because they hadn’t, California was free to regulate.