Court decides to hear additional case next term, turns down petition from parents challenging school gender-identity policy

The Supreme Courtroom on Monday morning agreed to determine whether or not the Division of Labor has the facility to carry hearings to gather cash from employers who violate the phrases of the visa program for seasonal farm staff. The dispute arises from an investigation and continuing performed by the Division of Labor that led to an evaluation of penalties and again wages of greater than a half-million {dollars} in opposition to Solar Valley Orchards, a New Jersey farm that, based on investigators, put its staff up in squalid situations, charged them for meals after promising them a kitchen, and had unlicensed drivers transport them to the fields.

The announcement got here as a part of a listing of orders launched on Monday from the justices’ personal convention on Friday, April 24.

After an administrative legislation decide largely upheld the Division of Labor’s findings and fines, the farm went to federal court docket in New Jersey, the place it challenged the DOL’s energy to adjudicate the case and impose the penalties and again wages. U.S. District Choose Joseph Rodriguez granted the DOL’s movement to dismiss the farm’s claims.

Solar Valley Orchards then went to the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the third Circuit, which reversed and dominated within the farm’s favor. In its view, the Structure required the Division of Labor to proceed earlier than a federal district court docket, reasonably than an administrative decide.

The Division of Labor got here to the Supreme Courtroom in February, asking the justices to weigh in. U.S. Solicitor Basic D. John Sauer referred to as it a “easy case.” Non permanent farm staff, he mentioned, “account for a sixth of america’ agricultural workforce. The choice under deprives the federal government of an necessary instrument for guaranteeing that employers adjust to the situations for using these staff.”

In a quick, unsigned order on Monday, the court docket granted the Division of Labor’s petition for assessment. The case will possible be argued within the fall.

In December, the Supreme Courtroom cleared the way in which for Texas to make use of a brand new congressional map favorable to Republicans in 2026, pausing the ruling of a federal court docket in Texas which had discovered that the map unconstitutionally sorted voters based mostly on race. In an order on the court docket’s interim docket, and over a dissent by Justice Elena Kagan that was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, the justices paused the decrease court docket’s ruling.

Really useful Quotation: Amy Howe, Courtroom decides to listen to extra case subsequent time period, turns down petition from dad and mom difficult college gender-identity coverage, SCOTUSblog (Apr. 27, 2026, 7:55 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/04/court-decides-to-hear-additional-case-next-term-turns-down-petition-from-parents-challenging-sch/