Articles

Sixth Circuit’s Proposal 2 decision : Teetering on the brink of incoherence

January 02, 2013 | By RALPH KASARDA

Attorneys for PLF filed a brief this week in the United States Supreme Court asking that Court to review the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action v. Regents of the Univ. Of Michigan.  In that decision, the Sixth Circuit held that the Fourteenth Amendment gives groups of a particular race the r ...

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American Mines to ask U.S. Supreme Court to settle NEPA standing dispute

January 02, 2013 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

American Mines has relied on backcountry roads within Payette National Forest for its mining operation for decades. In 2005, the Forest Service created a new rule that required every national forest to designate roads open to motor vehicles, creating a presumption that roads were now closed unless explicitly designated otherwise. When the Forest Se ...

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It’s a party and you’re invited!

January 03, 2013 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Tickets are now on sale for Pacific Legal Foundation’s biggest celebration in 40 years! It’s our 40th anniversary party coming on Saturday, March 2, 2013, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library* in Simi Valley. Now through February 2, you can take advantage of special EARLY BIRD PRICING on individual and couple’s tickets. Visit ...

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Not So Fast : Texas Supreme Court rejects court of appeals attempt to re-write contracts from the bench

January 03, 2013 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

It has long been accepted in Texas, and elsewhere, that “where one agrees to do, for a fixed sum, a thing possible to be performed, he will not be excused or become entitled to additional compensation, because unforeseen difficulties are encountered.” In other words, a person doesn’t get to back-out of a contract just because  ...

Articles

CEQA versus the Constitution – round two

January 03, 2013 | By TONY FRANCOIS

We have previously reported on the Tuolumne Jobs case, an important appellate decision expanding CEQA and diminishing California voters’ constitutional right of initiative.  The Tuolumne Jobs decision broke with precedent and held that a city counsel was required to prepare an environmental impact report under CEQA before it could adopt an o ...

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President's weekly report — January 5, 2013

January 04, 2013 | By ROB RIVETT

Individual Rights — Equality Under the Law Project Shelby County v. Holder on Jan. 2, 2013.  Back in the early years of the civil rights movement, federal oversight of southern voting practices was a sad necessity in order to ensure that all citizens were given a fair opportunity to freely exercise their right to vote.  … ...

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We all have something to gain from the Koontz case

January 07, 2013 | By JONATHAN WOOD

The Koontz case, which the head of the Constitutional Accountability Center described as “going away the most important takings case the Roberts Court will decide,” continues to receive broad support as the oral argument approaches.  As readers know, Koontz is a case that the Supreme Court will hear this month, in which PLF argues that ...

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Koontz oral argument : the Takings Clause protects “private property,” not just real property

January 08, 2013 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Is money a kind of private property?  In PLF’s Koontz case, which attorney Paul Beard II will argue at the U.S. Supreme Court on the 15th, one significant issue is whether the Supreme Court’s previous decisions  in Nollan and Dolan apply to monetary exactions.  Those two cases protect property owners from unlawful permit conditions t ...

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Rivers are rivers

January 08, 2013 | By TONY FRANCOIS

and the water in them is water.  While these tautologies rest on the identity principle, words are not always what they seem when the EPA and the NRDC get hold of them. Two recent federal court decisions on the scope of the Clean Water Act provide useful examples of the principle that words in statutes have … ...