Don't Be Too Smug About How Much Better We Are Than Communist Dictatorships
Ilya Shapiro, with Cato legal associate Kathleen Hunker, blogs at Cato -- "I Heard It Through the Grapevine That the Government Was Violating Property Rights" -- about what raisin farmers are made to go through:

Property owners shouldn't be made to suffer a needless, Rube Goldberg-style litigation process to vindicate their constitutional rights. Yet that is exactly what the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks to impose on independent raisin farmers Marvin and Laura Horne when they protested the enforcement of a USDA "marketing order" that demanded that the Hornes turn over 47 percent of their crop without compensation.

The marketing order--a much-criticized New Deal relic--forces raisin "handlers" to reserve a certain percentage of their crop "for the account" of the government-backed Raisin Administrative Committee, enabling the government to control the supply and price of raisins on the market. The RAC then either sells the raisins or simply gives them away to noncompetitive markets--such as federal agencies, charities, and foreign governments--with the proceeds going toward the RAC's administration costs.

Believing that they, as raisin "producers," were exempt, the Hornes failed to set aside the requisite tribute during the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 growing seasons. The USDA disagreed with the Hornes' interpretation of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 and brought an enforcement action, seeking $438,843.53 (the approximate market value of the raisins that the Hornes allegedly owe), $202,600 in civil penalties, and $8,783.39 in unpaid assessments.

After losing in that administrative review, the Hornes brought their case to federal court, arguing that the marketing order and associated fines violated the Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause. Having litigated the matter in both district and appellate court, the government--for the first time--alleged that the Hornes' takings claim would not be ripe for judicial review until after the Hornes terminated the present dispute, paid the money owed, and then filed a separate suit in the Court of Federal Claims.

The San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit proved receptive to the government's about-face. Relying on Williamson County v. Hamilton Bank (1985)--the Supreme Court case that first imposed ripeness conditions on takings claims--the court ruled in a revised opinion that the Tucker Act (which relates to federal waivers of sovereign immunity) divested federal courts of jurisdiction over all takings claims until the property owner unsuccessfully sought compensation in the Court of Federal Claims. In conflict with five other circuit courts and a Supreme Court plurality, the Ninth Circuit also concluded that the Tucker Act offered no exception for those claims challenging a taking of money, nor for those claims raised as a defense to a government-initiated action.

Cato has filed an amicus brief supporting the Hornes.

The "Takings Clause" of the U.S. Constitution states: "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."