Farm Labor Organizing Committee v. Joshua Stein ( 2022 )

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PUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 21-1499
FARM LABOR ORGANIZING COMMITTEE; VALENTIN ALVARADO
HERNANDEZ,
Plaintiffs – Appellants,
v.
JOSHUA STEIN, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of North
Carolina,
Defendant – Appellee,
and
ROY COOPER, in his official capacity as governor of the State of North Carolina;
MARION R. WARREN, in his official capacity as Director of the North Carolina
Administrative Office of the Courts,
Defendants,
NORTH CAROLINA FARM BUREAU,
Intervenor/Defendant.
-----------------------------
EL VINCULO HISPANO; FARMWORKER JUSTICE; NATIONAL
EMPLOYMENT LAW PROJECT; EPISCOPAL FARMWORKER MINISTRY;
NORTH CAROLINA STATE AFL-CIO; NORTH CAROLINA STATE
CONFERENCE OF THE NAACP; STUDENT ACTION WITH
FARMWORKERS; WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA WORKERS’ CENTER,
Amici Supporting Appellant.
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NATIONAL RIGHT TO WORK LEGAL DEFENSE FOUNDATION, INC.;
NORTH CAROLINA FARM BUREAU FEDERATION, INC.,
Amici Supporting Appellee.
No. 21-1541
FARM LABOR ORGANIZING COMMITTEE; VALENTIN ALVARADO
HERNANDEZ,
Plaintiffs – Appellees,
v.
JOSHUA STEIN, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of North
Carolina,
Defendant – Appellant,
and
ROY COOPER, in his official capacity as governor of the State of North Carolina;
MARION R. WARREN, in his official capacity as Director of the North Carolina
Administrative Office of the Courts,
Defendants,
NORTH CAROLINA FARM BUREAU,
Intervenor/Defendant.
-----------------------------
NATIONAL RIGHT TO WORK LEGAL DEFENSE FOUNDATION, INC.;
NORTH CAROLINA FARM BUREAU FEDERATION, INC.,
Amici Supporting Appellant.
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Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at
Greensboro. Loretta C. Biggs, District Judge. (1:17-cv-01037-LCB-LPA)
Argued: September 14, 2022 Decided: December 28, 2022
Before RICHARDSON and HEYTENS, Circuit Judges, and MOTZ, Senior Circuit Judge.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and vacated in part by published opinion. Senior Judge
Motz wrote the opinion, in which Judge Heytens joined. Judge Richardson wrote a
separate opinion, concurring in the judgment.
ARGUED: Kristi Lee Graunke, ACLU OF NORTH CAROLINA LEGAL
FOUNDATION, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellants/Cross-Appellees. Matthew
Thomas Tulchin, NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Raleigh, North
Carolina, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant. ON BRIEF: Jaclyn Maffetore, ACLU OF
NORTH CAROLINA LEGAL FOUNDATION, Raleigh, North Carolina; Julia Solórzano,
Decatur, Georgia, Meredith B. Stewart, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER, New
Orleans, Louisiana; Carol Brooke, Clermont Fraser Ripley, NORTH CAROLINA
JUSTICE CENTER, Raleigh, North Carolina; Brian Hauss, AMERICAN CIVIL
LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION, New York, New York; Robert J. Willis, LAW
OFFICE OF ROBERT J. WILLIS, P.A., Pittsboro, North Carolina, for Appellants/Cross-
Appellees. Josh Stein, Attorney General, NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF
JUSTICE, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant. Trent Taylor,
FARMWORKER JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Amici Farmworker Justice, National
Employment Law Project, Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, North Carolina State AFL-
CIO, Student Action with Farmworkers, El Vinculo Hispano, Western North Carolina
Workers’ Center and North Carolina State Conference of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People. Raymond J. LaJeunesse, William L. Messenger,
NATIONAL RIGHT TO WORK LEGAL DEFENSE FOUNDATION, INC., Springfield,
Virginia, for Amicus National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Inc. Phillip Jacob
Parker, Jr., Secretary and General Counsel, Stephen A. Woodson, Senior Associate General
Counsel, NORTH CAROLINA FARM BUREAU FEDERATION, INC., Raleigh, North
Carolina, for Amicus North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation, Inc.
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DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ, Senior Circuit Judge:
Section 20.5 of North Carolina’s 2017 Farm Act contains provisions making it
illegal to enter into two types of contractual agreements: (1) any settlement agreement
conditioned on an agricultural producer’s union affiliation (the Settlement Provision) and
(2) any agreement that would require an agricultural producer to process dues checkoffs
for its farmworker-employees (the Dues Provision). The Farm Labor Organizing
Committee and Valentin Alvarado Hernández (collectively, FLOC) contend that these
prohibitions violate the First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, and 42 U.S.C. § 1981.
FLOC initiated this action against Joshua Stein, the Attorney General of North Carolina,
and Roy Cooper, the Governor of North Carolina (collectively, the State), seeking to
invalidate and enjoin both provisions. In response to cross motions for summary judgment,
the district court held that the Settlement Provision violated the Constitution and so
enjoined it, but upheld the constitutionality of the Dues Provision, and then held that neither
provision violated § 1981. For the following reasons, we reverse the judgment of the
district court as to the Settlement Provision and vacate the accompanying injunction, but
affirm in all other respects.
I.
A.
This lawsuit concerns North Carolina’s agricultural sector. Agriculture and
agribusiness account for one-sixth of the state’s economy and employ about 15% of its
workforce. The vibrance of the state’s agricultural community has resulted in North
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Carolina becoming a major producer of tobacco, Christmas trees, soybeans, corn, hay, and
cotton. 1
North Carolina’s agricultural prominence owes much to the efforts of the state’s
farmworkers. Most (95%) North Carolina farmworkers are Latinx, primarily of Mexican
descent. A substantial portion of these farmworkers are non-citizen H-2A workers, who
are granted limited entry into the United States to work in the agricultural sector. The high
percentage of Latinx farmworkers stands in stark contrast to the racial demographics of
farm owners, who are almost always white.
The parties stipulate that FLOC, “the only [farmworker] labor union or labor
organization in the state of North Carolina which engages in collective bargaining,”
represents many of the state’s farmworkers. FLOC alleges that “[f]armworkers frequently
experience pesticide exposure, inadequate access to drinking water and restrooms, and
dilapidated labor camp housing.” FLOC Opening Br. at 7. And it contends that
farmworkers are particularly vulnerable to wage theft and other forms of mistreatment.
According to FLOC, these problems are compounded for H-2A farmworkers who “rely on
their employers for transportation, housing, and other basic needs,” and whose lawful
presence in the United States is inextricably linked to their relationship with their employer.
FLOC maintains that it is imperative that farmworkers retain the ability to organize
collectively to achieve safe working environments, fair wages, and meaningful workplace
grievance procedures. To do so, prior to enactment of Section 20.5, FLOC particularly
1
The material facts in this case are largely undisputed. Unless noted to the contrary,
the parties’ Joint Stipulations of Fact provide the basis for the facts set forth within.
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relied on settlement agreements and dues checkoff agreements between agricultural
producers and their employees.
Settlement agreements provide FLOC the ability to assist members with “securing
settlements that include voluntary union recognition, entry into collective bargaining
agreements (CBAs), or agreements by employers to remain neutral on employee union
membership.” FLOC Resp. & Reply Br. at 3. Practically speaking, these settlement terms
allow FLOC to expand its reach while simultaneously allowing the parties to avoid
protracted litigation.
In dues checkoff agreements, the agricultural producer agrees to withhold a portion
of FLOC members’ pay and then transfer the withheld earnings to FLOC as payment for
that members’ union dues. Because many FLOC members lack access to traditional
banking institutions, this serves as a convenient way to ensure timely payment of dues.
It is undisputed that Section 20.5, the legislation FLOC challenges in this suit,
effectively prohibits parties from entering into, and thus FLOC from relying on, settlement
agreements and dues checkoff agreements.
B.
The State explains that the challenged legislation is a product of North Carolina’s
long history as a “right-to-work” state. See State Opening & Resp. Br. at 4. Right-to-work
laws “prohibit[] agreements—even between willing unions and employers—that would
condition employment on being a member of a union.” Id. North Carolina has repeatedly
reaffirmed its right-to-work status, including in a 2013 law that “prohibits preferential
pricing or access in purchase agreements” based on an agricultural producer’s “status as a
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union or nonunion employer.” Id. The State maintains that right-to-work policies ensure
that both employees and employers retain the ability to freely choose whether to affiliate
with a union. See id. at 4–5.
As State Senator William Brent Jackson, a co-sponsor of the legislation, explained
during floor debate on the legislation, “Section 20.5 just strengthens our right to work
statutes by declaring certain agreements involving agricultural producers are [against]
public policy.” The House sponsor, Representative Jimmy Dixon, similarly commented
that the legislation was necessary to combat the “continued harassment” from “predatory
folks [who] make a good living coming around and getting [farmworkers] to be
dissatisfied.” Representative Dixon noted further that Section 20.5 reinforces North
Carolina’s right-to-work policies and reduces a “regulatory burden on farms that is not
required under federal law and is completely within the State’s purview to regulate.”
With minimal floor debate, the bill passed in both houses of the North Carolina
General Assembly and was signed into law. Representative Dixon told the media that
Section 20.5 would “enhance [the] local agricultural community and possibly be a deterrent
to outside organizations in making attempts to establish unions where folks really don’t
want them or need them.” Senator Jackson agreed that this was why the legislation was
necessary.
C.
FLOC brought this action challenging Section 20.5’s Settlement Provision and Dues
Provision in the Middle District of North Carolina. In considering the parties’ cross
motions for summary judgment, the district court held the Settlement Provision violated
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the First and Fourteenth Amendments and enjoined its enforcement. But the court upheld
the constitutionality of the Dues Provision, and held that both provisions survived FLOC’s
challenge under 42 U.S.C. § 1981.
The parties timely filed cross appeals. “We review a district court’s grant of a
motion for summary judgment de novo, applying the same legal standards as the district
court.” Nader v. Blair, 549 F.3d 953, 958 (4th Cir. 2008) (citing Nguyen v. CNA Corp., 44
F.3d 234, 236 (4th Cir. 1995)). We review de novo a district court’s interpretation of a
state statute, deferring to “the statutory construction rules applied by the state’s highest
court.” In re DNA Ex Post Facto Issues, 561 F.3d 294, 300 (4th Cir. 2009). When
construing a statute, the Supreme Court of North Carolina reads text “within the context of
the statute” rather than in isolation. Stahle v. CTS Corp., 817 F.3d 96, 105 (4th Cir. 2016)
(quoting Brown v. Flowe, 507 S.E.2d 894, 896 (N.C. 1998)). If the text is unambiguous,
the statutory inquiry is complete. Carolina Power & Light Co. v. City of Asheville, 597
S.E.2d 717, 722 (N.C. 2004).
II.
We initially address FLOC’s First Amendment challenge to the Settlement
Provision.
A.
The Settlement Provision provides:
Any provision that directly or indirectly conditions . . . the terms of an agreement
not to sue or settle litigation upon an agricultural producer’s status as a union or
nonunion employer or entry into or refusal to enter into an agreement with a labor
union or labor organization is invalid and unenforceable as against public
policy . . . .
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N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-79(b) (emphasis added).
The Settlement Provision thus prohibits parties from agreeing to any settlement that
is conditioned on an agricultural producer’s affiliation (or non-affiliation) with a labor
union. FLOC urges us to resist this natural reading of the Settlement Provision and hold
instead, as the district court did, that the provision prohibits an agricultural producer from
entering into any (and every) settlement agreement with a labor union. FLOC’s reading,
however, cannot be reconciled with the Settlement Provision’s unambiguous text and
statutory context. See Brown, 507 S.E.2d at 896.
The challenged statute unmistakably tells us what it outlaws: “[a]ny provision that
directly or indirectly conditions” a settlement agreement on certain enumerated terms.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-79(b) (emphasis added). The statute then goes on to list which
settlement terms violate the statute — namely, terms concerning “an agricultural
producer’s status as a union or nonunion employer” and those related to an agricultural
producer’s “entry into or refusal to enter into an agreement with a labor union or labor
organization.” Id. In short, the Settlement Provision is not aimed at precluding settlements
based on who the parties are but rather what those settlement conditions say.
This unambiguous reading accords with the relevant legislative history. See State
v. Rankin, 821 S.E.2d 787, 792 (N.C. 2018) (explaining that “[t]he intent of the General
Assembly may be found first from the plain language of the statute, then from the
legislative history, the spirit of the act and what the act seeks to accomplish” (quoting State
v. Langley, 817 S.E.2d 191, 196 (N.C. 2018))); Turlington v. McLeod, 374 S.E.2d 394, 397
(N.C. 1988) (“In the construction of statutes, our primary task is to determine legislative
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intent . . . .”). Recall that the legislation’s co-sponsors, Senator Jackson and Representative
Dixon, were worried about “the use of litigation to force farms to unionize.” As the State
explains, it was not the fact of the lawsuits themselves nor FLOC’s attempts to settle those
lawsuits that prompted concern. Rather, it was individual plaintiffs’ efforts to use
settlement agreements “to force collective-bargaining agreements as a settlement
condition” that the legislators sought to deter. State Opening & Resp. Br. at 65–66.
Accordingly, we can reach only one conclusion: the Settlement Provision prohibits
parties from conditioning a settlement agreement on an agricultural producer’s union
affiliation. We reject the broad reading advanced by FLOC and adopted by the district
court that this statutory provision bars any settlement agreement between an agricultural
producer and labor union.
B.
FLOC also maintains that the Settlement Provision violates the First Amendment
because it eliminates its members’ right of expressive association and ability “to advance
their shared goals through litigation.” FLOC Resp. & Reply Br. at 51. This argument
falters at the outset because, as explained above, the Settlement Provision merely
proscribes certain settlement terms; it does not bar farmworkers and their union from
vindicating their rights through the judicial system.
Of course, it is true, as FLOC argues, that the Supreme Court has recognized First
Amendment protections for certain litigation-related activities. The seminal case in this
respect is NAACP v. Button, 371 U.S. 415 (1963). There, the Court considered Virginia’s
ban on the “improper solicitation of legal business.” Id. at 429. The challenged statutes
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prohibited legal services organizations, like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, from
soliciting clients unless the organization itself was a party to or had a pecuniary interest in
the underlying litigation. Id. at 423. The Court recognized that associating for the purposes
of litigation “may be the most effective form of political association” for groups seeking
to vindicate the legal rights of underrepresented minorities. Id. at 431. And because
Virginia’s solicitation ban criminalized the act of advising individuals of their legal rights
and referring them to legal counsel for assistance, the Court held that the ban infringed on
vital First Amendment protections. Id. at 434–37.
Similar First Amendment issues arose in United Transportation Union v. State Bar
of Michigan, 401 U.S. 576 (1971), and In re Primus, 436 U.S. 412 (1978). In the former,
the Supreme Court struck down a decree that prohibited a union from employing legal
counsel to represent its members’ interests in Federal Employers’ Liability Act cases. 401
U.S. at 580–81. The Court held that the prohibition violated “the First Amendment
principle that groups can unite to assert their legal rights.” Id. at 580. Later, the In re
Primus Court struck down an attorney discipline rule that prohibited public interest lawyers
from contacting prospective litigants to advise them that free legal services were available.
436 U.S. at 414, 437–38. In re Primus reemphasized that prohibitions against legal
solicitation must be carefully tailored to avoid stifling “political expression or association.”
Id. at 434.
The Settlement Provision bears no resemblance to the prohibitions in Button and its
progeny. As the Supreme Court clarified in United Transportation Union, the through line
of those cases is that “collective activity undertaken to obtain meaningful access to the
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courts is a fundamental right within the protection of the First Amendment.” 401 U.S. at
585. The Settlement Provision does not prevent farmworkers from affiliating with lawyers,
nor does it foreclose any legal cause of action or opportunity to resolve such an action in
or out of court. All the Settlement Provision does is prevent parties from agreeing to a
settlement that is conditioned on an agricultural producer’s affiliation with a labor union. 2
Because the Settlement Provision leaves undisturbed the ability of farmworkers and
farmworker unions to associate with one another and advance their cause through the
judicial system, we see no First Amendment violation.
III.
We turn now to FLOC’s First Amendment challenge to the Dues Provision.
A.
The Dues Provision provides:
Further, notwithstanding G.S. 95-25.8, an agreement requiring an agricultural
producer to transfer funds to a labor union or labor organization for the purpose of
paying an employee’s membership fee or dues is invalid and unenforceable against
public policy in restraint of trade or commerce in the State of North Carolina.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-79(b).
2
Our recent decision in Capital Associated Industries, Inc. v. Stein, 922 F.3d 198(4th Cir. 2019), comes to a similar conclusion. There, a trade association sought to provide
legal services as part of its membership package. Id. at 202. The association was unable
to do so under North Carolina’s unauthorized practice of law statutes, which forbid
corporations from practicing law. Id. We held that the challenged statutes raised no First
Amendment freedom of association concern, in part because the statutes did not undermine
the challengers’ meaningful access to the courts. Id. at 206.
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The parties agree that the Dues Provision bars the creation of contracts that require
an agricultural producer to process dues checkoffs for its employees. But they diverge on
whether an agricultural producer could decide to process dues checkoffs for farmworkers
on a voluntary, informal basis. We believe the State properly interprets Section
20.5 — that is, under the statute, agricultural producers retain discretion as to whether to
process dues checkoffs. The Dues Provision only prohibits “agreement[s]” that strip
agricultural producers of such discretion.
We note that the text of the Dues Provision states that the statute applies
notwithstanding G.S. § 95-25.8. The latter statute provides that “[a]n employer may
withhold or divert any portion of an employee’s wages” when, among other things, “the
amount or rate of the proposed deduction is known and agreed upon in advance.” See N.C.
Gen. Stat. § 95-25.8(a)(2). Section 95-25.8 thus ensures that employees, who ordinarily
are entitled to all wages due and owed, consent to any payroll deductions. Id. In contrast,
the Dues Provision prohibits a formalized agreement, like a collective bargaining
agreement, from mandating that an agricultural producer process dues checkoffs. N.C.
Gen. Stat. § 95-79(b). Thus, the plain language of the Dues Provision renders unlawful
only “agreement[s] requiring an agricultural producer” to process dues checkoffs. Id.(emphasis added).
This commonsense reading gives meaning to the “notwithstanding” clause in the
Dues Provision and allows us to read it harmoniously with the statute to which it refers,
Section 95-25.8. See Victory Cab Co. v. City of Charlotte, 68 S.E.2d 433, 437 (N.C. 1951)
(noting that related statutes “ordinarily . . . should be construed . . . so as to give full force
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and effect to each of them”). Indeed, it would be unnecessary for the Dues Provision to
mention “agreement[s] requiring an agricultural producer to transfer funds,” if the General
Assembly had outlawed all dues checkoffs agreements. See State v. James, 813 S.E.2d
195, 203 (N.C. 2018) (explaining that courts may not delete or insert words not used in the
statute).
As is the case with the Settlement Provision, the legislative history confirms our
conclusion. Before Section 20.5 was introduced, the General Assembly proposed a bill
that stated that “an employer shall not withhold or divert any portion of an employee’s
wages for the benefit of any labor organization.” FLOC Opening Br. at 13–14. This broad
legislation, which would have barred all labor union dues checkoffs, failed. Tellingly, the
General Assembly did not replicate that language in Section 20.5’s Dues Provision.
Instead, the legislature outlawed only “agreement[s]” requiring dues checkoffs, an implicit
indication that it sought to do something narrower in scope than ban all dues checkoffs.
We therefore agree with the State and the district court that the Dues Provision
permits an agricultural producer to determine, at its discretion, whether to process dues
checkoffs for its employees.
B.
Even so, FLOC contends that the Dues Provision violates the First Amendment,
because it singles FLOC out for an “onerous regulatory burden” that has hampered its
ability to engage in expressive activity. FLOC draws our attention to Minneapolis Star &
Tribune Co. v. Minnesota Commissioner of Revenue, 460 U.S. 575 (1983), a case in which
Minnesota “impose[d] a special tax on the press.” Id. at 576. FLOC argues that the Dues
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Provision, like that tax, violates the First Amendment because it too selectively subjects an
expressive association to “extremely onerous regulatory restrictions.” FLOC Opening Br.
at 28.
As an initial matter, we are unconvinced by FLOC’s argument that it has been
selectively targeted in the same manner as the newspapers in Minneapolis Star. There, the
taxation scheme not only “single[d] out the press” for a special tax, but also “tailor[ed] the
tax so that it single[d] out a few members of the press.” 460 U.S. at 591–92. Here, in
contrast, Section 20.5 treats all farmworker unions and agricultural producers alike. See
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-79(b). And so, although presently FLOC may be “North Carolina’s
only farmworker union,” the fact remains that Section 20.5 would treat any newcomer
farmworker union the same. FLOC Opening Br. at 3; see N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-79(b); cf.
Hettinga v. United States, 677 F.3d 471 (D.C. Cir. 2012) (“A statute with open-ended
applicability, i.e., ‘one that attaches not to specified organizations but to described
activities in which an organization may or may not engage,’ does not single out a particular
person or group for punishment.” (quoting Communist Party v. Subversive Activities
Control Bd., 367 U.S. 1, 5 (1961))).
Moreover, our precedent forecloses this challenge to the Dues Provision. In South
Carolina Education Association v. Campbell, 883 F.2d 1251, 1253 (4th Cir. 1989), we
considered the constitutionality of South Carolina legislation “which authorized payroll
deductions for contributions to charitable organizations but declined to authorize payroll
deductions for membership dues to labor organizations.” We were thus called on to decide
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whether the state’s prohibition against dues checkoffs violated the First Amendment’s
protection of free speech and expression. See id. at 1256–57.
In Campbell, the appellants made a First Amendment argument that is virtually
indistinguishable from the one advanced by FLOC: “that when membership dues are not
withheld from wages, members are less likely to pay their dues and the association is
impaired in its lobbying activities, legal advocacy program and other services.” Id. at 1256.
We rejected that argument, explaining that “there is no constitutional right to payroll
deductions” and that the appellant’s “First Amendment claim [was] not founded on any
direct impact the legislation ha[d] on free speech or the free flow of information.” Id. As
we have said elsewhere, dues checkoffs are, at most, “simply an administrative
convenience for the collection of dues.” Anheuser-Bush, Inc. v. Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters,
Loc. 822, 584 F.2d 41, 43 (4th Cir. 1978). Like the union in Campbell, FLOC’s First
Amendment interests have not been hampered. It remains able “to associate, to solicit
members, to express its views, to publish or disseminate material, to engage in political
activities, [and] to affiliate or cooperate with other groups.” Campbell, 883 F.2d at 1256.
Were Campbell not instructive enough standing alone, its rationale has been
bolstered by the Supreme Court. In Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Association, 555 U.S.
353, 355 (2009), the Court upheld an Idaho law that banned checkoffs by public employees
for their union’s political action committee. The Court explained that the First Amendment
“protects the right to be free from government abridgement of speech” but does not require
the government “to assist others in funding the expression of particular ideas, including
political ones.” Id. at 358. The Court went on to hold that the state’s checkoffs prohibition
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did not prevent the union or its members from engaging in speech and therefore was not
subject to strict scrutiny review. Id. at 359.
FLOC contends that Campbell and Ysursa are inapposite because both concern
instances where the state itself was acting as an employer. This factual distinction,
however, does not undermine the principle that “loss of payroll deductions” is “not
constitutionally impermissible.” Campbell, 883 F.2d at 1256. As we explained in
Campbell, even though such a loss “may economically burden the [union] and thereby
impair its effectiveness,” it is not the type of impairment “that the First Amendment
proscribes.” Id. at 1256–57.
IV.
We next consider FLOC’s challenge under the Fourteenth Amendment. Unlike the
First Amendment challenge, FLOC advances the same equal protection theory as to both
the Settlement Provision and the Dues Provision.
The Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause dictates that a state may not
“deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” U.S. Const.
amend. XIV. Stated differently, the Equal Protection Clause commands “that all persons
similarly situated should be treated alike.” City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Ctr., 473
U.S. 432, 439 (1985). Courts thus examine closely any legislation that classifies persons
based on immutable factors that “generally provide[] no sensible ground for differential
treatment.” Id. at 440.
Classifications on the basis of suspect factors like “race, alienage, or national
origin,” for example, are “so seldom relevant to the achievement of any legitimate state
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interest” that they are upheld only when narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state
interest. Id. Quasi-suspect factors, like an individual’s sex, also “frequently bear[] no
relation to the ability to perform or contribute to society” and are therefore unconstitutional
unless “substantially related to a sufficiently important governmental interest.” Id. at 440–
41. This same level of heightened scrutiny applies, as we recognized in Grimm v.
Gloucester County School Board, 972 F.3d 586 (4th Cir. 2020), to classifications based on
an individual’s transgender identity.
But in the absence of a classification based on a suspect or quasi-suspect factor, we
apply a deferential rational basis review unless the challenged legislation was enacted for
a discriminatory purpose. See Vill. of Arlington Heights v. Metro. Hous. Dev. Corp., 429
U.S. 252, 265–66 (1977); Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 242 (1976). Accordingly,
we begin our equal protection inquiry by determining whether Section 20.5 discriminates
against a suspect or quasi-suspect class.
A.
FLOC insists that it and its members belong to a quasi-suspect class given the
starkly segregated hierarchy of the agricultural industry in the state, the fact that
nearly all of FLOC’s members and many North Carolina farmworkers cannot vote,
the history of racialized exclusions of farmworkers from basic labor protections, and
the utter lack of Latinx representation in the legislature that enacted Section 20.5.
FLOC Resp. & Reply Br. at 24. Reminding us of our admonition in Grimm, 972 F.3d at
613, that “no hard-and-fast rule prevents this Court from concluding that a quasi-suspect
class” exists, FLOC asks that we recognize that North Carolina farmworkers and their
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union are entitled to heightened scrutiny, as a quasi-suspect class, whenever their
classification is invoked through legislation.
FLOC’s reliance on Grimm is severely misplaced. Quite unlike the policy
challenged in Grimm, Section 20.5 does not classify persons based on any “obvious,
immutable, or distinguishing characteristics.” 972 F.3d at 593, 611; see also Pers. Adm’r
of Mass. v. Feeney, 442 U.S. 256, 271–75 (1979) (explaining that a veterans’ preference
statute was facially gender-neutral even though “its effects upon women [were]
disproportionately adverse”). Indeed, to the extent that Section 20.5 incorporates any
classification at all, that classification relates to a given economic
sector — agriculture — not anything inherent to an individual’s identity or an attribute
shared by all farmworkers. By contrast, Grimm held that classifications involving
transgender identity are quasi-suspect in part because transgender persons are “a discrete
group with immutable characteristics.” 972 F.3d at 612.
FLOC nevertheless argues that because North Carolina farmworkers
disproportionately belong to already-defined protected classes (i.e., Latinx, non-citizens),
any law that classifies on the basis of agriculture cannot be “neutral,” as the term is used
in equal protection jurisprudence. This attenuated fashioning of a quasi-suspect class runs
far afield from our straightforward holding in Grimm that it was “apparent that transgender
persons constitute a quasi-suspect class.” 972 F.3d at 611. More, it runs counter to the
Supreme Court’s teaching in Feeney that facially neutral laws must be treated as such, even
when those laws are accompanied by disparate effects. 442 U.S. at 271–74. We therefore
reject FLOC’s quasi-suspect class argument.
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B.
Our equal protection journey does not end here, however. FLOC also contends that
strict scrutiny review applies because North Carolina used a facially neutral classification
to produce a discriminatory impact motivated by a discriminatory purpose. See Arlington
Heights, 429 U.S. at 265–66. But even if Section 20.5 produced a discriminatory impact
because the challenged statutory scheme bears heavily on individuals who share protected,
immutable characteristics, FLOC nonetheless falls far short of demonstrating that the
legislation was crafted with discriminatory intent. 3
To determine whether a legislature acted with intent to discriminate, we look to a
list of non-exhaustive factors first identified in Arlington Heights. The Supreme Court
there explained that discriminatory purpose may be inferred from the challenged
legislation’s “(1) historical background; (2) the specific sequence of events leading to the
law’s enactment, including any departures from the normal legislative process; (3) the
law’s legislative history; and (4) whether the law ‘bears more heavily on one race than
3
FLOC mounts a related challenge under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Section 1981
guarantees “[a]ll persons . . . the same right . . . to make and enforce contracts . . . as is
enjoyed by white citizens.” 42 U.S.C. § 1981(a). To prevail on a § 1981 challenge, a
plaintiff “must first plead and then prove that its injury would not have occurred ‘but for’
the defendant’s unlawful conduct.” Comcast Corp. v. Nat’l Ass’n of Afr. Am.-Owned
Media, 140 S. Ct. 1009, 1013 (2020). FLOC’s § 1981 challenge fails for much the same
reason that its Fourteenth Amendment challenge fails. Cf. Gen. Bldg. Contractors Ass’n,
Inc. v. Pennsylvania, 458 U.S. 375, 389 (1982) (explaining that § 1981 is the “legislative
cousin[] of the Fourteenth Amendment.”). Sheer speculation that “Section 20.5 would not
have passed were it not for the fact that the people overwhelmingly impacted by it are non-
citizens and Latinx,” FLOC Opening Br. at 66, does not satisfy § 1981’s but-for causation
requirement. Accordingly, the district court did not err in granting summary judgment in
the State’s favor on the § 1981 challenge.
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another.’” N.C. State Conf. of the NAACP v. Raymond, 981 F.3d 295, 303 (4th Cir. 2020)
(quoting Arlington Heights, 429 U.S. at 266).
To be sure, FLOC marshals compelling evidence of our nation’s sordid history of
racial discrimination in the agricultural industry. And we of course recognize North
Carolina’s recent discriminatory efforts in the voting rights context. See Raymond, 981
F.3d at 299, 305; N.C. State Conf. of NAACP v. McCrory, 831 F.3d 204, 215, 223–27 (4th
Cir. 2016). But the Supreme Court has instructed that we cannot place outsized weight on
historical background. See Abbott v. Perez, 138 S. Ct. 2305, 2324 (2018) (“The allocation
of the burden of proof and the presumption of legislative good faith are not changed by a
finding of past discrimination.”); see also Raymond, 981 F.3d at 304. Although the broader
history of legislation is always a relevant consideration, we must tread carefully so as not
to undercut the presumption that legislators and legislatures act in good faith. See Abbott,
138 S. Ct. at 2325–26. Accordingly, the evidence of historical discrimination offered here
is relevant, but hardly dispositive. See Raymond, 981 F.3d at 288 (“A legislature’s past
acts do not condemn the acts of a later legislature, which we must presume acts in good
faith.”).
Turning to the remaining Arlington Heights factors, FLOC makes much of the fact
that Section 20.5 was enacted near the end of the legislative session and that it prompted
minimal floor debate. In some circumstances this could signal a departure from the
legislature’s normal procedure, and so lend support to the proposition that something was
amiss. See, e.g., McCrory, 831 F.3d at 227–29. But FLOC offers no evidence that the
North Carolina legislature acted contrary to its formal rules or its legislative norms. In
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other words, FLOC has not offered evidence that anything about Section 20.5’s enactment
was so irregular that we can infer discrimination.
FLOC also asserts that Representative Dixon’s references to “predatory folks” and
“outside organizations” can be viewed as a subtle slight against FLOC members’ racial
identity. But nothing in the record suggests that any legislator focused on (or even
considered) FLOC’s racial makeup when drafting Section 20.5. Even when read
generously to FLOC, Representative Dixon’s comments at most suggest a skepticism about
FLOC’s unionization efforts, but they cast no aspersions on the identity of the individuals
who make up FLOC’s membership ranks. These remarks, however disapproving they may
be, offer no evidence of racially discriminatory purpose embedded within the statute’s
legislative history.
And so, even accepting that the effects of Section 20.5 may be felt more deeply by
“one race than another,” the record before us does not demonstrate that the legislature
enacted this law “‘because of,’ and not ‘in spite of,’ its discriminatory effect.” McCrory,
831 F.3d at 220 (quoting Feeney, 442 U.S. at 279). As the Supreme Court recognized in
Feeney, it is not enough that a legislature was merely aware of legislation’s likely disparate
impact. A statute violates the Equal Protection Clause only if disparate impact was the
intended consequence of the legislation’s enactment. Examination of the Arlington
Heights factors does not reveal such a discriminatory intent here. 4
4
Alternatively, FLOC argues that the district court erred in granting summary
judgment against FLOC on its equal protection challenge to the Dues Provision because
questions of material fact remain. For the reasons already discussed, neither Section 20.5’s
(Continued)
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V.
Because FLOC’s First and Fourteenth Amendment claims do not merit a more
intense form of scrutiny, rational basis review is appropriate. When rational basis review
applies, a court accords legislative actions “a strong presumption of validity.” FCC v.
Beach Commc’ns, Inc., 508 U.S. 307, 314 (1993). Rational basis review “simply requires
courts to determine whether the classification in question is, at a minimum, rationally
related to legitimate governmental goals.” Wilkins v. Gaddy, 734 F.3d 344, 347–48 (4th
Cir. 2013).
We have little trouble concluding that a rational basis supports Section 20.5.
Agriculture is North Carolina’s largest industry, which makes it a subject of great interest
for state legislators. The state also embraces its right-to-work policies and has worked
repeatedly to strengthen them. In addition to these general bases for enacting Section 20.5,
both challenged provisions respond to discrete legislative concerns.
The Settlement Provision addresses what some legislators viewed as the coercive
practice of using unrelated litigation to pressure agricultural producers into collective
bargaining agreements. This practice, in the estimation of the North Carolina legislature,
reduced an element of choice for agricultural producers in deciding whether to affiliate
with a union.
statutory text nor its accompanying legislative history provides a basis to infer
discriminatory intent. Accordingly, no genuine issues of material fact precluded entry of
summary judgment. See Henry v. Purnell, 652 F.3d 524, 531 (4th Cir. 2011) (en banc).
FLOC’s arguments to the contrary depend entirely on “mere speculation” and the “building
of one inference upon another.” Othentec Ltd. v. Phelan, 526 F.3d 135, 140 (4th Cir. 2008)
(quoting Beale v. Hardy, 769 F.2d 213, 214 (4th Cir. 1985)).
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As for the Dues Provision, processing dues checkoffs requires an agricultural
producer to “deduct union dues from their employees’ pay each week, consolidate those
deductions into one payment, and transfer the payment to FLOC monthly.” State Opening
& Resp. Br. at 14. As the State puts it, dues checkoffs agreements require agricultural
producers to “expend their own resources to collect dues on the union’s behalf” and
essentially act as a union’s treasurer. Id. at 31. The nature of this arrangement, the State
asserts, imposes “significant administrative and relational costs on farmers,” particularly
when there are “problems and confusion with [a farmworker’s] union membership status.”
Id. at 14, 16. But when an agricultural producer has already agreed to such an arrangement,
these “administrative and relational costs” persist, and the agricultural producer remains
obligated to continue its relationship with the union. Id. at 35. The Dues Provision resolves
these complications by allowing agricultural producers to cease processing dues checkoffs
at any time doing so becomes too burdensome.
Because the State has offered a “reasonably conceivable state of facts that could
provide a rational basis” for its actions, we hold that Section 20.5 withstands constitutional
scrutiny. 5 Orquera v. Ashcroft, 357 F.3d 413, 425 (4th Cir. 2003) (quoting Beach
Commc’ns, 508 U.S. at 313).
5
Undeterred, FLOC insists that this is no ordinary case, but that the North Carolina
legislature was motivated by bare animus against a politically unpopular group. For this
reason, FLOC contends that we must examine Section 20.5’s legality “under a more
searching form of rational basis review.” FLOC Opening Br. at 52. But unlike the cases
cited by FLOC, no evidence here suggests that animus against an unpopular group
motivated the State. We accordingly apply ordinary principles of rational basis review to
Section 20.5.
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VI.
To summarize, we reverse the district court insofar as it held that the Settlement
Provision violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments, and we vacate its injunction as
to the same. We affirm the remainder of the judgment of the district court. In so holding,
we offer no comment on whether Section 20.5 reflects sound public policy. The judgment
of the district court is
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART,
AND VACATED IN PART.
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RICHARDSON, Circuit Judge, concurring in the judgment:
I agree with my colleagues’ judgment but would travel a different path to get there.
The majority makes quick work of interpreting the North Carolina Farm Act’s Settlement
Provision. They say it unambiguously applies narrowly: it “is not aimed at precluding
settlements based on who the parties are but rather what those settlement conditions say.”
I’m not so sure. And that is ultimately a question for the North Carolina courts.
But how North Carolina might interpret its own statute makes no difference here.
In my view, the Constitution permits either the narrow or broad interpretation. For even
the broad reading of that provision—that it bars all settlement agreements between an
agricultural producer and a labor union—does not violate the First Amendment. The First
Amendment protects collective action undertaken to obtain meaningful access to the
courts. But the broad reading doesn’t lock parties out of the courtroom. Just the opposite:
It locks parties inside the courtroom. Because it is clear to me that neither reading of the
Settlement Provision would violate the First Amendment, I would leave the statutory
interpretation question for a different day before a different court.
26