Baylen Linnekin on Raisins, the Supreme Court, and the History of the Takings Clause
This was, to put it mildly, a big week for legal news. Given the decisions on Obamacare and gay marriage that were handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court during the latter half of the week, it would be easy to forget that the week started off with a key Supreme Court decision striking down an awful New Deal-era agricultural program. But let's give the raisins their due.
In Horne v. USDA, a family that markets raisins sued the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) after an agency program forced them to turn over hundreds of thousands of dollars of raisins (or their cash equivalent) for nothing more than the reasons that they are engaged in commerce in raisins. The Hornes argued that the USDA program amounts to an unconstitutional taking under the Fifth Amendment. The court agreed. Keep Food Legal's Baylen Linnekin explores the case in the context of the relationship between food freedom and the Takings Clause.