Sun Valley Orchards v. Department of Labor

What Happens to Administrative Courts After Jarkesy—and Why Farmers Should Pay Attention

Most farmers never expect to find themselves debating constitutional law.

They expect to argue yields, labor availability, weather, prices, and compliance checklists. When regulators show up, the assumption is usually the same: follow the process, answer the questions, fix what needs fixing, and move on.

But Sun Valley Orchards v. Department of Labor is not about compliance in the ordinary sense. It is about who gets to decide guilt and impose punishment when the federal government claims a violation has occurred—and whether that decision can still happen behind closed administrative doors after the Supreme Court’s landmark Jarkesy ruling.

This case doesn’t come with dramatic footage or emotional spectacle. What it comes with instead is something more dangerous to the modern regulatory system: a procedural challenge that threatens to slow, reroute, and expose how enforcement power is actually exercised.

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