On October 3, the Liberty Justice Center and Pacific Legal Foundation filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings in their legal challenge to the federal “Swampbuster” statute, urging a federal court to strike down a scheme that unconstitutionally takes farmers’ property without compensation.
In 1985, Congress passed a statute known as “Swampbuster,” which aimed to protect America’s wetlands by requiring farmers to leave all property deemed “wetlands” untouched—or forgo all U.S. Department of Agriculture benefits, including crop insurance and the ability to apply for loans. If farmers touch any property deemed wetlands, they face the potential of losing the USDA benefits for every property that they own, rent, or lease to farm.
When the federal government takes private property through its power of eminent domain, the Fifth Amendment requires that it provide just compensation to the owner. However, for decades, “Swampbuster” has effectively allowed the federal government to take farmers’ property without the just compensation that the Constitution requires.
The Liberty Justice Center and Pacific Legal Foundation jointly filed a lawsuit to challenge “Swampbuster” on April 16, arguing that the legislation violates farmers’ rights by taking private property without just compensation—and by conditioning the receipt of federal benefits on the waiver of a constitutional right.
In today’s legal filing, the Liberty Justice Center and Pacific Legal Foundation ask the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa to issue a final ruling striking down the federal scheme.
“We’re asking the Court to put an end to decades of legalized abuse and uphold farmers’ Fifth Amendment rights by requiring the federal government pay farmers just compensation if it takes their property,” said Loren Seehase, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center.
The Liberty Justice Center and Pacific Legal Foundation jointly filed CTM Holdings, LLC v. U.S. Department of Agriculture in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, Eastern Division, on April 16, 2024. The Upper Midwest Law Center served as local counsel to file the lawsuit.
The legal filings in CTM Holdings, LLC v. U.S. Department of Agriculture are available here.