Supreme Court GRILLS Labor Dept Over Farm Fines!! 🌾 #SupremeCourt #SunValley #H2A
The Supreme Court has just heard a case that could take a wrecking ball to the way federal agencies punish employers. On Tuesday, 10 November 2026, the justices heard oral argument in Department of Labor v. Sun Valley Orchards, LLC, No. 25-966, a New Jersey farm ordered to pay more than $550,000 in penalties and back wages, not by a judge in a courtroom, but by the Labor Department's own in-house judges. The Court's conservative majority appeared skeptical that those in-house judges could order the penalties, with Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh questioning the government's power to seek penalties outside court. Justice Kagan asked what is at stake for immigration enforcement. Nothing has been decided yet, Tuesday was only the argument. A decision is expected in the months ahead.
Sources: Bloomberg Law, 10 November 2026 (Top US Court Wary of DOL In-House Immigration Penalty Power, published 2026-11-10T17:48:11Z); Reuters, 9 November 2026 (US Supreme Court to weigh limits of federal agency powers in farmworker rights case); SCOTUSblog case file / Cornell LII oral-argument calendar. Case: Department of Labor v. Sun Valley Orchards, LLC, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 25-966, oral argument 10 November 2026. For the Labor Department: Solicitor General D. John Sauer. For Sun Valley Orchards: Rob Johnson of the Institute for Justice.
In this video: what the Supreme Court heard on Tuesday, and why it is about who gets to decide, not a ruling yet; the case, two questions on Article III and the H-2A statute; the farm and the $550,000 order, the 2015 season, the kitchen, meals and housing findings, and $210,000 in penalties plus nearly $345,000 in back wages; the road to the Court, the district court for DOL, the Third Circuit's July 2025 reversal, and SEC v. Jarkesy; inside the argument, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh push back, and the public-rights line; Justice Kagan's question, what is at stake for immigration enforcement; and what happens next, now that a decision is months away.
Chapters:
0:00 Supreme Court grills the Labor Dept
0:30 The case: DOL v. Sun Valley
1:19 The farm and the $550,000 fine
2:19 Third Circuit sides with the farm
3:13 Gorsuch & Kavanaugh push back
3:35 Kagan asks: what's at stake?
4:15 What it means for agencies
5:06 What happens next
#SupremeCourt #SunValley #H2A #SCOTUS #Jarkesy #FarmFines #LaborDepartment #H2AVisa #FederalCourt #ThirdCircuit #Gorsuch #Kavanaugh #Kagan #USPolitics #BreakingNews #CourtNews #MarcusDelaney
Disclaimer: This video is commentary based on verified news and court reporting. Dramatic titles are commentary framing; court outcomes are reported from verified reporting.
