Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision in
Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, is a major victory for constitutional property rights. It ensures that, at least in most cases, the government cannot invade owners’ land or authorize others to do so without paying “just compensation,” as required by the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Cedar Point involves a challenge to a California law requiring agricultural growers to give union organizers access to their property for three hours per day, 120 days per year. Long-standing Supreme Court precedent holds that a “permanent physical occupation” of property qualifies as a “per se” taking automatically requiring compensation under the takings clause. But the lower court ruled there is no per se taking here because the law did not require growers to give union organizers the right to “unpredictably traverse their property 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”
Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images
Originally published on June 23, 2021 10:06 am
Updated June 23, 2021 at 1:06 PM ET
The Supreme Court on Wednesday tightened the leash on union representatives and their ability to organize farmworkers in California and elsewhere. At issue in the case was a California law that allows union organizers to enter farms to speak to workers during nonworking hours before and after work, as well as during lunch for a set a number of days each year.
By a 6-3 vote along ideological lines, the court ruled that the law enacted nearly 50 years ago after a campaign by famed organizer Cesar Chavez unconstitutionally appropriates private land by allowing organizers to go on farm property to drum up union support.
Supreme Court Rules Against Farmworkers and Their Unions in Critical Labor Case newrepublic.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newrepublic.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Visalia Times-Delta Crew workers carry picking ladders over unsold citrus in a field near Rocky Hill Drive and Spruce Road in Exeter on Monday, June 14, 2021.
Commercial growers celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision in Cedar Point Nursery v Hassid, but farmworker unions say this will make it harder for them to access workers and advocate for their rights.
In a blow to labor, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a decades-old California rule inspired by César Chávez that allowed union organizers to meet with farmworkers at their place of work. Commercial growers applauded the conservative court’s ruling to uphold property rights while union representatives vowed not to be deterred.
High court backs businesses challenging California labor law
JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press
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FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2020 file photo, the Supreme Court is seen in Washington.J. Scott Applewhite/AP
WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with California agriculture businesses that objected to a state regulation giving unions access to farm property in order to organize workers.
As a result of the ruling, the businesses attorney said, California will have to modify or abandon the regulation put in place in 1975 after the efforts of labor leader Cesar Chavez.
The justices ruled 6-3 along ideological lines for the agriculture businesses. It s another potential setback for unions as a result of a high court decision.