Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE) and over a dozen national and state agricultural associations supporting a family farm facing a power grab by the Department of Labor that threatens to put it out of business. The farm, Sun Valley Orchards, was ordered to pay over $550,000 to the federal government over an alleged labor violation, but when the owners of the farm wanted to defend themselves, they learned that they had to appear before a judge employed within the Department of Labor—the very agency threatening them with the massive fine in the first place.
Read More
When Americans’ rights are threatened, they should be able to assert their rights in an impartial court of law, not in an administrative court housed within the agency that is threatening them. As SLF explains in its amicus brief supporting the farmers’ challenge, a federal agency can’t make such a large grab for power without congressional authorization. And more importantly, Congress cannot simply give away its powers to insulated bureaucrats like it is doing here.
Representing NCAE and several agricultural associations, SLF argues in its brief that the Department of Labor’s unilaterally-created in-house court system is a blatant violation of our Constitution. The Founders created three separate branches of government with checks and balances to ensure that Americans’ rights are protected. The Department of Labor cannot act as judge, jury, and executioner by doling out excessive penalties that can ruin a family business without any real recourse.