March 25, 2021
The case that the Supreme Court heard this week about a California law granting union organizers access to private farms has been described as a labor case, which it marginally is. It has also been described as a case about property rights, which it definitely is. But what makes Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid one of the most important cases of the current term is the question it presents for the newly configured court: whether, after years of disappointment, the political right may finally be able to take the Supreme Court for granted.
March 24, 2021
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, an important property rights case. Cedar Point could set a major precedent determining whether the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment requires the government to compensate property owners when it forces them to give outside private parties extensive access to their land. If the state prevails, government would have broad power to force property owners to allow outsiders onto their property.
March 23, 2021
If you own private property, can you keep other people away if you don’t want them there? The answer is, “yes, of course.” With the exception of the police, health and safety inspectors, and other government-sanctioned visits – all pursuant to strict limitations baked into the law – landowners have every right to keep uninvited guests out.
March 22, 2021
Sudden workplace disruptions — a car alarm, WiFi interruption, or burnt popcorn in the breakroom — may violate our concentration but not our constitutional rights. Such a dubious honor goes to California’s legalized property invasion, whereby uninvited union organizers can invade agriculture firms’ private property to recruit members.
March 19, 2021
At 5 a.m. on an October day in 2015, union organizers barking through bullhorns swarmed onto the grounds of Cedar Point Nursery near California’s border with Oregon. The organizers surged through the sheds where some of the nursery’s 100 full-time workers and more than 400 seasonal workers were preparing strawberry plants.
November 13, 2020
When attorneys file legal complaints in court, they generally request specific relief for the plaintiff, such as a declaration that government action was unconstitutional, or an injunction, or compensatory damages. Then, just in case they forgot something, they add a catch-all request asking for “any such additional relief as would be just and proper.” While legal documents have a terrible reputation for redundant, stilted language, this catch-all request for relief is not mere boilerplate.
November 13, 2020
On Nov. 4, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a challenge to the city’s exclusion of Catholic Social Services from participation in the foster care system due to its views on same-sex behavior. This may sound like a run-of-the-mill battle in the culture war, but there’s a lot more to it.
November 9, 2020
Judges write dissenting opinions for all kinds of reasons — to create a roadmap for future challenges, to register their protest, or to persuade their colleagues over time. The best dissents are the ones that never see the light of day because they are so persuasive and they become the majority. And perhaps the saddest are those that began as a majority opinion but ultimately lost the majority.
October 13, 2020
The Voting Rights Act is one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever enacted. In the years immediately after its passage, record numbers of African-American registered and voted. Indeed, by 2012 African-American voting rates were the highest of any demographic in the country.
October 06, 2020
The passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just weeks before the start of the Supreme Court’s 2020-21 term has left many wondering: What happens when there’s an eight-member court?
September 19, 2020
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who served for 27 years on the U.S. Supreme Court, passed away on Friday. When her longtime friend and fellow opera fan, Justice Antonin Scalia, died in 2016, Ginsburg lamented that the court would be a “paler place” without her ideological opponent and debate partner.
August 13, 2020
The scope and duration of the stay-at-home orders issued by state governors this year are unlike any past pandemic orders in American history. So it is not surprising that several hundred lawsuits have been filed around the country to challenge their application in various contexts.
Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid
Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco
