Articles

Thanksgiving 140 years later

November 26, 2009 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Joshua Thompson PLF attorney Tim Sandefur shows us this excellent cartoon form 1869.  He writes: "This 1869 political cartoon by the great Thomas Nast (click to enlarge) depicts an idealized American Thanksgiving table, where all are welcome regardless of race. Note the reference to the then-new Fifteenth Amendment in the drapery ...

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Hugh Hewitt and PLF expose government-caused draught

November 25, 2009 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Joshua Thompson PLF President, Rob Rivett, appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show recently discussing PLF's fight against the government's fish-before-people regulations, which are starving farms, businesses, and communities in the San Joaquin Valley of water.  Mr. Hewitt devoted his entire 3-hour program to exposing the water restr ...

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From liberty to democracy

November 25, 2009 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: R. S. Radford Ever wonder why there is a Statue of Liberty on an island in New York Harbor, rather than a Statue of Democracy? Many people apparently think the two terms are synonymous, and those who don't often seem embarrassed by references to the supposedly antiquated (or politically tainted) notion of liberty. The … ...

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McDonald v. Chicago : revolution or restoration? (final part)

November 24, 2009 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Timothy Sandefur By now, the answer to the question “revolution or restoration?” should be clear. In 1873, the U.S. Supreme Court cut a hole in the Fourteenth Amendment, taking from it the most important of its provisions, and leaving judges and lawyers to find clever alternatives to enforce the purpose of that Amendment and &# ...

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McDonald v. Chicago : revolution or restoration? (part 7)

November 23, 2009 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Timothy Sandefur Since the Progressive Era (roughly the 1920s), it’s been fashionable for law professors and judges to attack the legal principle called “substantive due process.” This theory is said to be at the root of all sorts of problems in our national history, everything from slavery to abortion. It may be the only ...

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Damon Root on the privileges or immunities clause

November 23, 2009 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

Author: Timothy Sandefur Reason magazine's Damon Root has an excellent article here from February explaining the importance of the McDonald case for entrepreneurs and other working people. … ...

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Blog reactions to PLF/Cato's McDonald brief

November 23, 2009 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Timothy Sandefur Here's the Cato Institute's post about our McDonald brief. David Kopel has some very kind words about PLF/Cato's amicus brief on The Volokh Conspiracy. Also, Josh Blackman has posted a podcast here about the brief. … ...

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PLF asks the Supreme Court to restore serious constitutional protection for all individual rights

November 22, 2009 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

Author: Timothy Sandefur Today, we at the Pacific Legal Foundation are filing this friend of the court brief in the crucial gun rights case now pending before the United States Supreme Court. The brief, which was co-signed by our friends at the Cato Institute, asks the Supreme Court to overrule the 1873 Slaughter-House Cases, a decis ...

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McDonald v. Chicago : revolution or restoration? (Part 6)

November 22, 2009 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

Author: Timothy Sandefur (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5) McDonald v. Chicago is mostly being discussed as a case involving gun rights, and that’s not surprising: the case is a challenge to Chicago ordinances that essentially make it illegal to possess firearms. Last year, the Supreme Court for the first time … ...