Posts By: Tom Nassif

Judicial Restraint and Activism, and the Importance of Judicial Nominations

In February of this year, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away suddenly.  In the months since, I have often paused to think about the way the judiciary has changed in my lifetime, especially in my years as a lawyer.  Legal scholars point to the Warren Court of the 1950s and ‘60s as the turning ...

Words of Wisdom for Jerry Brown, from Jerry Brown

A siege mentality is taking hold in California’s agriculture community. The state’s farmers have never confronted so many existential threats at one time.  The most well-known to people outside the industry are the lack of a legal and stable workforce to harvest crops, and the lack of water that has been brought about by a ...

CA Needs a More Stable Source of Funding – Not Temporary Quick Fixes

As Election Day approaches in a couple of weeks, I wanted to take a moment to talk about a proposition that, if passed, will not be sound economic policy for California. I usually don’t agree with editorials by the San Francisco Chronicle, but their “Chronicle recommends: No on state Prop. 55” hits the nail on ...

Ag Labor is Declining. We Need Better Policy, More Technology.

There is a severe ag labor shortage and it’s only going to get worse. Changing demographics and stringent regulatory barriers are causing the flow of workers crossing the border to dramatically slow down. These are the workers that help us harvest our crops—the workers that are crucial in providing the nutritious fruits and vegetables that ...