PUBLIC RIGHTS PROJECT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS URGE U.S. SUPREME COURT TO PROTECT LOCAL HEALTH AND SAFETY AUTHORITY
18 Cities and Counties—including Cook County, County of Santa Clara, and City of Seattle—Join Amicus Brief Defending California Policy Allowing Union Organizers to Briefly Enter Onto Agricultural Growers’ Property
OAKLAND, CALIF. (February 16, 2021) - Public Rights Project partnered with Cook County, the County of Santa Clara, and the City of Seattle—joined by 15 other local governments, and supported by pro bono counsel from Kaplan Hecker & Fink, LLP—to file an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold California’s regulation permitting limited, temporary access—with notice to the employer—to employee-only spaces on agricultural growers’ property to support worker organizing. This case has significant implications, not only for labor organizing, but for local government inspections and enforcement actions, which serve to protect public health and safety and necessarily require access to private property.
The Supreme Court is reviewing Cedar Point v. Hassid, in which agricultural growers represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation argue that California’s Access Regulation is a physical occupation of their private property, and is therefore an unconstitutional taking under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and should be invalidated. Taken to its logical conclusion, this argument would entirely upend the ability of local governments to conduct routine inspections on private property to enforce critical health, safety, and welfare protections. If the Supreme Court sides with the plaintiffs, it would disturb local governments’ ability to enforce a broad range of foundational laws covering areas such building codes, food processing and storage, environmental hazards, workplace conditions, and industries ranging from massage parlors to bicycle rental companies.
“Farm workers face challenging and difficult working conditions, and California’s Access Regulation is essential to ensuring that their rights to organize are real,” said Public Rights Project’s Legal Director Jonathan Miller. “Beyond the impact on agricultural workers—if the Supreme Court adopts the Pacific Legal Foundation’s extreme position—local government efforts to protect tenants, workers, consumers, and, by extension, all of us, will be jeopardized.”
The amicus brief argues that California’s Access Regulation should remain intact because regular access to private property under limited circumstances is essential to ensure public good. In fact, countless regulations permit local government agents to enter onto private property to perform critical services, achieve necessary regulatory goals, and execute core functions of governments while at the same time providing due process protection to property owners.
“The implications of this case threaten not only workers’ rights and dignity, but also local governments’ most critical duty to keep residents safe,” said Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.
“The County of Santa Clara has a robust civil and code enforcement program to protect public and environmental health for our residents that has literally saved lives,” said James R. Williams, Santa Clara County Counsel. “We are proud to stand with other local governments to demonstrate to the Supreme Court the potentially dangerous impacts of this unprecedented attempt to transform the Takings Clause into a weapon against basic workplace regulations.”
The City of Seattle is proud to join a nationwide effort urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a California regulation in supporting agricultural worker organizing.
"Local governments are the first line of protection for our residents' health, safety, and welfare," said Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes. “It is paramount that we stand to preserve long-standing constitutional principles to ensure that local jurisdictions, like Seattle, can adequately enforce our labor standards, consumer protection ordinances, and housing codes for the well-being of our communities."
Across the nation, government inspectors enter private property to conduct routine inspections of food safety, jobsite conditions for vulnerable workers, environmental compliance, and child welfare. Adopting the position that the Petitioners ask for in this case would undermine these core local government functions that protect residents from unnecessary harm, impose extraordinary financial burden, and put widely accepted safety standards at risk of being unenforced.
A broad coalition of local jurisdictions joined Cook County, the County of Santa Clara, City of Seattle, and Public Rights Project in filing the brief. The 18 signatories are:
City of Seattle, Washington
Cook County, Illinois
County of Santa Clara, California
City of Albuquerque, New Mexico
City of Austin, Texas
City of Chicago, Illinois
City of Cincinnati, Ohio
City of Dallas, Texas
City and County of Denver, Colorado
City of Los Angeles, California
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
City of Minneapolis, Minnesota
City of Oakland, California
City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
City of Portland, Oregon
City of St. Paul, Minnesota
County of San Benito, California
City of Santa Monica, California
Public Rights Project served as counsel to all amici. Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP served as pro bono co-counsel to the City of Seattle.
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About the Public Rights Project
Public Rights Project is a national non-profit, based in Oakland, that builds state and local governments’ capacity to enforce their residents’ rights. Their mission is to close the gap between the promise of our laws and the lived reality of our most vulnerable communities. They work to achieve this mission by training attorney fellows to catalyze the proactive work of government law offices; providing strategic support in legal strategy, research, partnerships and data analytics to help offices develop high-impact legal cases; and designing and spreading community outreach and organizing approaches that empower community residents and advocates to be active partners in an enforcement agenda rooted in equity.
About the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) is the nation’s second-largest prosecutor’s office and is led by Cook County’s first Black Woman State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. Foxx brings her vision to this office to fairly administer justice in the pursuit of thriving, healthy and safe communities for every person who steps foot in Cook County, no matter their race, income or zip code. Foxx has been recognized as one of the most progressive prosecutors through her forward-thinking, innovative strategies to intercept the cycles of violence and crime and bring change to a criminal justice system rooted in systemic racism.
About the Santa Clara County Counsel’s Office
The County Counsel serves as legal counsel to the County, its Board of Supervisors and elected officials, every County department and agency, and the County’s boards and commissions. With a staff of over 200 employees, including over 100 attorneys, the Office is also responsible for all civil litigation involving the County and its officers. The Office provides legal assistance to County departments in addressing a wide range of diverse issues in every area of internal and external service delivery, including but not limited to: land use, tax assessments, labor relations, personnel matters, risk management, health and hospital issues, child dependency and adult protective services, law and justice, public finance, civil enforcement and property management.
About the Seattle City Attorney’s Office
Pete Holmes, now in his third term as Seattle City Attorney, is the only elected city attorney in Washington State and has sole supervisory control of all litigation involving the City of Seattle. With more than 100 attorneys, the Seattle City Attorney’s Office is one of the largest public law offices in Washington State. The Civil Division represents the City in lawsuits and advises City officials as they develop programs, projects, policies, and legislation. The Criminal Division prosecutes misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors and traffic infractions in Seattle Municipal Court. The City Attorney's Office proudly embraces community-based incarceration alternatives when appropriate.
About Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP
Founded in July 2017 by renowned litigator Roberta Kaplan, Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP has quickly emerged as one of the most formidable litigation boutiques in the country, fusing high stakes commercial litigation with a groundbreaking public interest practice. Clients trust Kaplan Hecker & Fink with some of their most pressing challenges, from white collar criminal defense, to commercial disputes, to civil rights litigation, to appeals. Kaplan Hecker & Fink’s team of New York and Washington, D.C.-based litigators share a mission to provide the highest level of client service and advocacy, while at the same time maintaining a deep commitment to principles of integrity, fairness, and public service.
For more information:
Web: https://www.publicrightsproject.org/
Twitter: @public_rights
Medium: @publicrightsproject
Instagram: @publicrightsproject
Media Contact:
Public Rights Project: Madison Jacobs, 602-642-6471, madison@publicrightsproject.org
Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office: sao.media@cookcountyil.gov
City of Seattle: Dan Nolte, 206-258-0973, dan.nolte@seattle.gov
County of Santa Clara: María Leticia Gómez/Laurel Anderson, Office of Communications and Public Affairs, (408) 299-5119, sccpublicaffairs@ceo.sccgov.org
