Articles

Clean Water Act Guidelines still a muddle

April 29, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Reed Hopper The New York Times praises the Administration for proposing new Clean Water Act guidelines that the Times says will restore "vital legal safeguards" to "millions of acres of wetlands and thousands of miles of streams" threatened by development and pollution as a result of recent Supreme Court decisions. What ...

Articles

Is there a doctrine of standing in California?

April 29, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff That's a question that I and my colleague Joshua Thompson are seeking to answer in a draft law review article that we've just posted on the Legal Scholarship Network, entitled California Standing Doctrine:  The Enigma Explained.  We would welcome any comments from blog readers, particularly those ...

Articles

Gray wolves legislatively delisted : what's the big deal?

April 28, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff When President Obama approved Congress's budget for 2011 a few weeks ago, he also signed into law a budget rider that legislatively removed most of the Northern Rockies distinct population segment of gray wolf from the lists of protected species under the Endangered Species Act (the bill does not affect protectio ...

Articles

Consumers win as Supreme Court upholds freedom of contract

April 27, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Deborah J. La Fetra The United States Supreme Court today ensured that consumers will continue to be able to enter into contracts with companies to arbitrate any future disputes that will arise.  Individual consumer arbitration speedily resolves disputes in an informal forum, providing benefits to consumers and businesses alike.& ...

Articles

Controversial new habitat designation for the Beluga whale

April 27, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff Earlier this month, the National Marine Fisheries Service designated about 3,000 square miles of aquatic habitat as critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act for Cook Inlet distinct population segment of beluga whale.  The designation is the combined result of NMFS's 2008 endangered listing for the ...

Articles

US Supreme Court hears data-mining censorship case

April 26, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Deborah J. La Fetra The United States Supreme Court heard oral argument today in ??Sorrell v. IMS Health, on the issue of whether a Vermont law that prohibits pharmacies from selling prescription data to data mining companies that then sell information to pharmaceutical companies violates the First Amendment.  Vermont was very clear t ...

Articles

More critical habitat proposed for the snowy plover

April 26, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff As part of an unfortunate pattern, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed an expanded critical habitat designation, under the Endangered Species Act, for the western snowy plover, a small coastal bird.  In 1999, the Service designated nearly 20,000 acres of critical habitat for the bird in Ca ...

Articles

Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization podcast

April 26, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Joshua Thompson As part of the Federalist Society's excellent SCOTUScast series, I presented a podcast on the Supreme Court's recent school choice decision in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn. You can listen to the podcast here.  For more information on the case, check out my previous blog posts here and h ...

Articles

Eminent domain for tax revenue apparently no reason at all

April 25, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Timothy Sandefur More than five years after the infamous Kelo decision, the property the city seized for development remains undeveloped; Pfizer has even announced it’s leaving town. But even more amazing: the city has entered into negotiations with a new developer, and there’s something they want before they’ll agree to b ...