MIKE FAHNER HAS farming in his blood. He was born to a potato farming family in Northern California, and in the late 1990s he founded Cedar Point Nursery—a strawberry plant farm—in Butte Valley, California. Today, Cedar Point Nursery thrives as one of the country’s biggest strawberry nurseries. Mike’s farm grows the “mother” strawberry plants for fruit growers across the country. Cedar Point Nursery, along with a few other nurseries in Butte Valley, produces 85 percent of the nation’s strawberries.

Cedar Point’s entire business revolves around the fall harvest: a tight six-week window when 400 seasonal workers join the company’s 100 full-time employees in trim sheds to prepare the strawberry plants for shipment.

The harvest season is hectic under normal circumstances, with long days that start before sunrise. But in 2015, before the sun had even poked above the horizon, pandemonium erupted at Cedar Point.

A crowd of about two dozen strangers burst through the doors of the trim sheds where employees were hard at work. The intruders paraded through the building shouting into bullhorns, waving flags, and disrupting work. They were representatives from the United Farm Workers (UFW), and they were marching through Cedar Point in an effort to convince the workers they all were underpaid and mistreated, and needed to strike and join the union.

“None of us had ever experienced anything like that. We’ve never seen a UFW flag,” said Mike. “We had absolutely no forewarning. This was an attack of monumental proportions.”

The union representatives managed to frighten a few people into leaving work that day. But once the commotion died down, the near-full staff resumed their work. Many shook their heads in disbelief that anyone would challenge the fair and competitive wages, safe and clean workplace, and respectful treatment they enjoyed at Cedar Point. And everyone—including Mike—was shocked that anyone would storm private property to ambush unsuspecting workers.

Mike prides himself on paying his workers above-market wages with generous benefits, so he wasn’t concerned about a possible strike, but he was concerned about the disruption that another union demonstration would cause for Cedar Point’s tight production schedule. Unfortunately, after consulting with an attorney, he discovered union officials could return to Cedar Point again and again. Worse, under California law, he would have to let them in.

The California Agricultural Labor Relations Board created its so-called Union Access Regulation in 1975 so unions could recruit new members on their employers’ turf. Unique to California and its agriculture industry, the regulation requires the state’s agricultural employers to allow union officials onto their property up to three hours a day, 120 days a year.

Forty-five years ago, the access regulation was adopted when reaching farm workers was a much tougher task. Cell phones and the internet didn’t exist. Radio airwaves were fewer and far between. And unlike auto workers or teachers, seasonal farm workers back then often lived on their employers’ land during the busy times.

None of those circumstances apply today. Cedar Point’s seasonal workers, for instance, are housed at nearby hotels, have cell phones, use social media, and are wired into means of communication far outside of the nursery’s private property lines. There are also hundreds of Spanish-speaking radio stations and other media outlets that the union can use to reach and recruit workers. Nevertheless, the Board insists its regulation is still necessary to reach these employees.

Mike wasn’t about to let his life’s work—and that of his employees—crumble under the weight of an archaic law. He decided to fight back.

“We had to defend ourselves. Where in this world can someone invade your house or your place of business with a bullhorn, disrupt everything you’re doing, walk out, and not face any repercussions?” Mike asked. “How is that not considered illegal, or an infringement on your private property rights?”

Fortunately, the union’s trespassing is indeed unlawful and unconstitutional. Unions have no special right to invade private property and disrupt commercial operations. And the U.S. Constitution protects property owners’ fundamental right to exclude people we don’t want on our property. Government can’t make a regulation violating that right even if it limits the hours.

The trespass regulation did survive a challenge at the state Supreme Court in 1976, but in 2016, Cedar Point and Fresno-based Fowler Packing Company filed a federal lawsuit to overturn the unconstitutional union trespass law. PLF is representing the farms free of charge.

The case unfortunately lost in district court and at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. And although disappointing, eight judges dissented—as many judges as can possibly dissent in any circuit court, underscoring the need for Supreme Court review.

In fact, Ninth Circuit Judge Sandra S. Ikuta further planted the seed for a High Court challenge, noting in her dissent that, “[The Ninth Circuit] should have taken this case en banc so that the Supreme Court will not have to correct us again.”

Buoyed by the strong appellate court dissent and growing amicus support from liberty-minded allies, PLF filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court on behalf of the two businesses, asking the High Court to invalidate California’s unlawful regulation and affirm that government can’t take an easement for unions to invade private property and disrupt commercial operations without paying compensation for it.

The Supreme Court granted the petition on Friday, November 13, and I look forward to oral argument, which will likely take place in late February.

This case could have significant consequences across the United States, because if the government knew that it could take easements as long as the takings weren’t 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days per year, government could just say, “Okay we’ll take private property for specific valuable times and leave the rest of the hours to you.” We look forward to making the case for our clients and for all property owners that government can’t justify any form of property taking without compensation by carving out government-approved time increments.

A win would mark PLF’s 13th victory in 15 cases litigated before the high court—reaffirming PLF as the nation’s preeminent advocate for property rights and a true testament to PLF’s relentless pursuit of freedom.