Articles

I was at a conference recently where the speaker stated that the U.S. Government is the biggest lawbreaker in the Nation.  The EPA would seem to prove that statement. From the outset, the EPA has abused its power under the Clean Water Act.  Whereas the Act prohibits discharges of pollutants into  “navigable waters” and acknowledges ...

Today, Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys petitioned the federal government to delist the killer whale from the Endangered Species Act.  The petition was submitted on behalf of the Center for Environmental Science, Accuracy & Reliability—a nonprofit group whose primary mission is to bring scientific rigor to environmental regulation deci ...

A few days ago, I wrote about Lemire v. Washington Department of Ecology and the exciting possibility that the Supreme Court of Washington might accept the Court of Appeals’ invitation to hear the case.  Well, it didn’t take long for the Supreme Court to act.  The Court accepted certification today, meaning it will decide the … ...

We’ve had quite a lot of press in connection with our delisting petition, filed yesterday, for the killer whale:  Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle Times, Capital Press, NPR, McClatchey Newspapers, among others.  (I was somewhat amused when the Center for Biological Diversity issued a press release criticizing the petition and labelling u ...

You’ll recall the brouhaha begun a few months ago when a senior EPA official was quoted as saying that it would be “same old, same old” at the agency irrespective of the Supreme Court’s decision authorizing landowners to sue when they receive an EPA compliance order.  Shortly thereafter, over a dozen Senators signed a lett ...

Rob Rivett here, a day late.  Sometimes the President’s duties at PLF make blogging a bit difficult, but I will continue to try to get you updates on the happenings at PLF each week.  Without further ado, this is what our attorneys were doing last week. Property Rights —  Destruction of a Fundamental Attribute of … ...

You may recall the government’s crackdown on “unlicensed” lemonade stands last summer  (see stories here and here). Well, it seems that the bureaucrat’s war against childhood is far from over. This past weekend, the City of Seattle busted a family for … wait for it …. building a sandbox. Worse yet, they built ...

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that competitive cheerleading is not a sport.  This is a very disappointing decision.  It is a slap in the face to the athletes that spend countless hours perfecting routines, and competing throughout the country.  The Court recognized that competitive cheerleading requires “strength, agili ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral argument today in Laurel Park Community, LLC v. City of Tumwater.  As readers will recall, the issue in this case is whether a city ordinance that prohibits mobile home park owners from using their property for almost anything but a mobile home park constitutes a taking, … ...