Bundy Ranch 2.0: Feds Seize Farmer’s Crop and Won’t Give It Back, Supreme Court Decides

Bundy Ranch 2.0: Feds Seize Farmer’s Crop and Won’t Give It Back, Supreme Court Decides

At least one good thing came out of the Supreme Court this week. During the Great Depression, the government decided that prices paid to farmers were too low and undertook to correct the problem by limiting their output. It was a fascist move then and is still one now. It is sheer theft. Marvin and Laura Horne decided not to play that game and took their beef all the way to the Supreme Court – raisin hell, so-to-speak. And they won on Monday! The feds claimed they owed $700,000 because they would not surrender 47% of their crop for over a decade to the government with no compensation. Not even the left-leaning Supremes could let that one slide.

Marvin Horne
Raisin farmer Marvin Horne stands in a field of grapevines planted next to his home in Kerman, Calif.
Horne was accused of violating a 1937 federal rule that regulates raisin prices by setting aside a percentage
of crop to avoid a glut. (Gary Kazanjian, AP)

From the Conservative Tribune:

The United States Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of California farmers Marvin and Laura Horne in their efforts to keep the Obama administration from seizing a large share of their crop in accordance with an antiquated federal law used to keep crop prices high.

Battling to keep their raisin crop, the Hornes had to take the fight to the nation’s highest court, which issued an 8-1 ruling in their favor and a giant slap in the face to the latest gross federal overreach by the Obama administration.

The ruling came nearly a year after Obama’s Bureau of Land Management’s attempt to seize thousands of cattle from Cliven Bundy’s southwest Nevada ranch, which ultimately backfired on the administration.

Chief Justice John Roberts, in a statement, recalled the absurdity of the amount of crop the feds attempted to seize in an unidentified year.

“In one of the years at issue here, the government insisted that the Hornes turn over 47 percent of their raisin crop, in exchange for the ‘benefit’ of being allowed to sell the remaining 53 percent,” he wrote.

He went on to further explain why he and seven other justices ruled in favor of the Hornes and how it was essentially an act of unconstitutional theft.

“The reserve requirement imposed by the Raisin Committee is a clear physical taking,” Roberts wrote. “Actual raisins are transferred from the growers to the government. Title to the raisins passes to the Raisin Committee. The Committee disposes of those raisins as it wishes, to promote the purposes of the raisin marketing order.”

Because the Hornes have chosen to not participate in the federal crop stealing program for over a decade, they faced a staggering $700,000 in fines, but thanks to the favorable ruling from the high court, they’ll no longer be on the hook.

The Raisin Administrative Committee, which operates under the supervision of the USDA, sells or gives away the raisins it takes, with the proceeds going to cover its operating costs, storage fees and promotional efforts abroad. If any money is left, the farmers get some of it. If not, they receive nada. Looks like the Road to Serfdom has been detoured on this issue, at least for now. The unconstitutional theft being imposed on farmers such as the Hornes is no more – unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Obamacare. The Supreme Court handed a blatantly unconstitutional win to Obama on that today. But at least these raisin farmers can get back to raising their crops and taking care of business – liberal fascism has moved on to the next hot topic.

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton is an editor and writer for Right Wing News. She owns and blogs at NoisyRoom.net. She is a Constitutional Conservative and NoisyRoom focuses on political and national issues of interest to the American public. Terresa is the editor at Trevor Loudon's site, New Zeal - trevorloudon.com. She also does research at KeyWiki.org. You can email Terresa here. NoisyRoom can be found on Facebook and on Twitter.

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