2021 saw one of the biggest property rights victories before the Supreme Court in recent memory. Mike Fahner and his Cedar Point Nursery, after more than a decade of legal battles, finally won the right to not have their property invaded by hostile union activists seeking to disrupt their business.
The case, Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, asked the question of whether California labor regulations permitting union representatives practically unfettered access to farming operations in order to recruit workers, without any prior notice to property owners, violated the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, which states that the government shall not take private property for a public use without just compensation. The Supreme Court answered “yes,” remarking that a right to private property that does not allow the property owner to exclude unwanted guests, is not much of a property right at all.
Unfortunately, Mr. Fahner passed away last month (please visit the tribute to him published by one of his attorneys, Joshua Thompson, earlier this week, for a brief glimpse at who this great American was). I never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Fahner, but we all benefitted from his bravery and tenacity, and he will be sorely missed.
Seeing the news of Mr. Fahner’s passing, I take at least some small consolation from the fact that he got to see his years of hard work come to fruition with his win before the Supreme Court. But it also reminded me that not everyone is so fortunate, and that all too often, justice delayed truly is justice denied (Our own longtime client, Sidney Longwell, also passed away last year, 38 years into a still-ongoing legal battle now inherited by his daughter).
So I’d like to take a moment this Holiday Season to thank the many brave men and women who put themselves on the line for justice, the people who agree to upend their lives for years at a time, endure government retaliation and nasty smears in the press, and pour their hearts and souls (and very often their livelihoods) into challenging governmental violations of constitutional rights. It’s plaintiffs like Mike Fahner and Sidney Longwell who make the work we do here at Mountain States Legal Foundation possible.
So, as you’re spending time with your family over the next few weeks, enjoying some of our cherished liberties as Americans, raise a glass to these everyday heroes, and give thanks for the sacrifices they’ve made to make that enjoyment possible.
