Justice Scalia Compares Taking Private Property to Communist Russia

Raisin growers were before the US Suprmee Court arguing that a law allowing the government to take their crops, without just compensation, is unconstitutional.

During the New Deal, farmers got a raw deal. The 1937 Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act permits the taking of crops to shore up prices.  The great raisin caper of 2015 led the Justices to offer colorful fodder:

• Chief Justice Roberts described the law as ““You come up with the truck and you get the shovels and you take their raisins, probably in the dark of night.”
• Justice Scalia described the law thusly, “Central planning was thought to work very well in 1937, and Russia tried it for a long time.”

 WallStreet Journal Headline: Justices Skeptical Whether Crop Program Has a ‘Raisin’ D’être