Articles

Broken promises

December 30, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Reed Hopper Utah officials are not very happy with the Secretary of Interior's latest land grab.  Nor should they be.  As reported in the Salt Lake Tribune, Secretary Salazar is recanting on a hard fought settlement agreement and unilaterally making new law.   Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar annou ...

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Some light holiday reading on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta litigation

December 30, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brandon Middleton Just in time for the New Year's holiday weekend, the Federalist Society has published my article on The Consolidated Delta Smelt Cases and The Consolidated Salmonid Cases currently being litigated in Fresno. The article, "The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Litigation: A Brief Summary," discusses the ...

Articles

Return of the death panels?

December 30, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff The Wall Street Journal had an interesting oped earlier this week on the resurging "death panels" controversy.  Recall two years ago when Sarah Palin made a splash about how ObamaCare would lead to government bureaucrats making end-of-life decisions for citizens.  Fast forward to the present, wi ...

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Alternative energy and the return of Indiana bat litigation

December 29, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brandon Middleton You may recall that around this time last year a federal court in Maryland issued a controversial decision to halt a wind energy project located in West Virginia.  The court felt the decision was necessary in order to protect endangered Indiana bats under the Endangered Species Act.  But as I explained on R ...

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Must have basic management skills . . .

December 29, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Daniel Himebaugh Earlier this week, the Government Accountability Office reported that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management participated in multiple transactions involving the illegal sale or purchase of land since 1995.  I won't comment on the GAO's audit, but it does remind me of a recent Reason Foundation study that readers o ...

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The California Dep't of Fish and Game and regulatory overreach : not what the doctor ordered

December 28, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brandon Middleton For years, ranchers in Northern California have relied upon water rights in order to provide an adequate supply of irrigation water for their crops and family businesses.  Many of these ranchers hold what are called “pre-1914 water rights,” giving them historical and significant certainty that their water ...

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More on California court ruling upholding voting rights

December 28, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Paul J. Beard II As we reported earlier this month, a California court recently ruled that a city ordinance conditioning building permits on some property owners' waiver of their constitutional right to vote on taxes is illegal.  Watch our newest video to learn more about this important ruling:     … ...

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Akaka Bill defeated

December 28, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Joshua Thompson     Earlier this month, I reported about the efforts of our friends from the Center for Equal Opportunity to defeat the Akaka Bill.  The Akaka Bill would have attempted to legitimize racial preferences for Hawaiians throughout the United States. However, the Cato Institute is reporting that the ...

Articles

Movers and economic freedom

December 28, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Timothy Sandefur Readers will remember that PLF is currently challenging the constitutionality of a Missouri law that requires moving companies to get permission from existing moving companies before going into business. Early last year, thanks to a PLF lawsuit, the state of Oregon repealed a similar law. Our client from that case, Adam Swe ...