The US Supreme Court granted certiorari in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid [Briefs] to review the 9th Circuit's decision. California law allows union organizers to go onto the land of agricultural growers for up to three hours per day and for up to 120 days per year. The activities are limited to meeting and talking with employees and soliciting their support; the number of organizers is limited; and business disruption is prohibited.

The issue in this case is whether California has to compensate the growers for a "taking" under the 5th amendment. This case is not about whether California's rule is lawful, or whether it is appropriate.

From a legal standpoint, this is a 5th amendment "takings" case. From a practical standpoint, this is a battle between agricultural employers and labor unions.

Here's how the cert petition phrased the Question Presented:

"California law forces agricultural businesses to allow labor organizers onto their property three times a day for 120 days each year. The regulation provides no mechanism for compensation. A divided panel below held that, although the regulation takes an uncompensated easement, it does not effect a per se physical taking of private property because it does not allow '24 hours a day, 365 days a year' occupation. As an eight-judge dissent from denial of rehearing en banc noted, the panel 'decision not only contradicts Supreme Court precedent but also causes a circuit split.'

"The question presented is whether the uncompensated appropriation of an easement that is limited in time effects a per se physical taking under the Fifth Amendment."

Here's how the California Agricultural Labor Board phrased the Question Presented:

"In 1975, the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board promulgated a regulation affording union organizers a limited right to access the property of agricultural employers. Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 20900(e). The Board modeled the regulation on a right of access that this Court has recognized under the National Labor Relations Act. See id. § 20900(b); NLRB v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 351 U.S. 105, 112 (1956). The state regulation restricts the right of access in several ways. Among other things, organizers may access only non-work spaces, during non-work periods, for no more than three hours per day, and for no more than four thirty-day periods each year. Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 20900(e)(1)(A), (3). The only permissible purpose of the access is for organizers to meet and talk with employees and solicit their support, id. § 20900(e), and the access right terminates five days after the completion of a ballot count in a union representation election, id. § 20900(e)(1)(C). The organizers must provide advance notice to the employer, id. § 20900(e)(1)(B), and only two organizers, plus one additional organizer for every 15 employees beyond 30, may access the property, id. § 20900(e)(4)(A). Disruption of the employer’s business operations is prohibited. Id. § 20900(e)(4)(C).

"The question presented is: Whether the access regulation effects a per se physical taking of petitioners’ property under the Fifth Amendment."