The Supreme Court accepted today a case in which California farmers challenge USDA’s right to confiscate their raisins. The Court’s decision is a defeat for the Justice Department, which argued that the Supremes should let stand a bizarre Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that would have nullified a swath of the Fifth Amendment.
I tub-thumped about the feds’ raisin robberies in the Washington Times on Monday. I appreciate the Times’ Frank Perley getting the piece in the paper in time to tout the issue before the Court voted on whether to take the case.
The court’s decision is good news for two hard-working lawyers who have valiantly fought USDA power grabs for more than 25 30 years – Brian Leighton and Jim Moody. Moody helped educate me about marketing orders in the 1980s, back when I was first hounding ag bureaucrats.
This could be a landmark property rights case. I suspect that the Justice Department’s anti-property rights briefs will be a hoot.
Comments are closed.