Articles

PLF defends Encinitas homeowners against Coastal Commission abuse

December 02, 2013 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

A San Diego judge ruled that the California Coastal Commission violated the law when it denied Encinitas homeowners their right to rebuild a private staircase and placed unreasonable restrictions on their ability to protect their homes with a seawall. The Commission has appealed that ruling to the California Court of Appeal, and PLF attorneys are ...

Articles

PLF to highlight abuses by coastal land-use agencies

December 02, 2013 | By PAUL BEARD

Backed by the politically powerful interests of those who want (uncompensated) beach access and undeveloped shorelines, coastal land-use agencies have exercised ever-increasing power over property owners in their jurisdictions. As I explain in this video, this week, PLF is highlighting the rampant abuse of coastal landowners by those agencies. We ...

Articles

Common Core doth protest too much

December 02, 2013 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

A nationalized school curriculum would be bad enough if it were constrained to public schools, but the latest Common Core developments show that the purported “standards” threaten to standardize not just the curriculums of traditional public schools, but charter schools, private schools, and home schooling parents as well. … ...

Articles

Public employee “collective bargaining” = lobbying

December 02, 2013 | By DEBORAH LA FETRA

In Harris v. Quinn, the Supreme Court will determine the constitutionality of an Illinois executive order and law that declares all personal home assistants to be public employees, for the sole purpose of being represented by a collective bargaining unit of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) that seeks to lobby for greater government ...

Articles

Coastal property rights : a view from the Northwest

December 03, 2013 | By BRIAN HODGES

We don’t have the California Coastal Commission in the Pacific Northwest, but we still face plenty of problems with the government on our (rocky) beaches.  Here are three examples: Luhrs v. Whatcom County—Attorneys with PLF’s Northwest Center recently represented Lummi Island property owner Victoria Luhrs in her struggle to obtain th ...

Articles

Individual arbitration is not an “unfair labor practice”

December 03, 2013 | By DEBORAH LA FETRA

In D.R. Horton v. Cuda, Michael Cuda filed a labor claim against his employer, homebuilder D.R. Horton, purporting to act as a representative for a class.  D.R. Horton required all employees to sign a mutual arbitration agreement, however, that precluded class claims in any arbitral or judicial forum.  The National Labor Relations Board, decided ...

Articles

Federal Circuit upholds takings decision in Arkansas Game & Fish

December 03, 2013 | By BRIAN HODGES

Earlier today, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals issued its remand decision in Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. United States, upholding the trial court’s conclusion that the Army Corps of Engineers took Arkansas Game & Fish’s property. As you may recall, the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission owns and operates the Dave Do ...

Articles

The Conscience of The Constitution

December 04, 2013 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

My new book, The Conscience of The Constitution, is now available on Amazon in hardback and Kindle. Although it’s short—only about 150 pages, not counting notes and index—this book is my own manifesto of constitutional law. I address some of the most controversial and important topics in our nation’s legal debates, including substan ...

Articles

PLF's Timothy Sandefur talks with Armstrong & Getty about his new book

December 04, 2013 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

I appeared on the Armstrong & Getty show this morning to talk about PLF’s lawsuits defending economic liberty–and about my new book, The Conscience of The Constitution. You can listen to the podcast here. … ...