Articles

Should Congress step back and let the courts handle the WOTUS rule?

August 31, 2015 | By TODD GAZIANO

Liberty Blog readers know that the “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule issued earlier this summer is not only a brazen power grab by the U.S. EPA and Army Corps of Engineers that will create additional costs, risks, and confusion for ordinary property owners, but that it is also blatantly illegal. Last week, as … ...

Articles

Orwellian language in the Clean Water Act

August 31, 2015 | By JONATHAN WOOD

Recent press coverage of PLF’s challenge to the compliance order that Andy Johnson received from the EPA has highlighted some of the Orwellian language in the Clean Water Act. As you’ll recall, EPA is threatening Andy with tens of millions of dollars in fines for constructing an environmentally-beneficial stock pond on his private prope ...

Articles

PLF's Timothy Sandefur talks First Amendment and gov't unions

August 31, 2015 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

I talked this morning with Paul Molloy on Freedom Works about the First Amendment, government unions, and the Friedrichs case. You can listen online here. … ...

Articles

Monday : Watch Andy Johnson on Fox Business Network — and read about him in The Washington Times

August 30, 2015 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

In an astonishing display of arrogance and illegality, the EPA is threatening literally to destroy a small farmer in Wyoming for the “offense” of building an environmentally beneficial stock pond on his own land. … ...

Articles

President's weekly report — August 28, 2015

August 28, 2015 | By ROB RIVETT

WOTUS halted! A federal district court judge in North Dakota enjoined with this order EPA from enforcing it’s new breathtakingly illegal Waters of the United States rule.  The court found that the harm to the states who had sued was potentially considerable and that there was a likelihood of success in the merits.  This result … ...

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PLF prevents latest attempt to limit Proposition 209

August 28, 2015 | By MERIEM L. HUBBARD

Last month I blogged about the case of Baez v. California Public Employees’ Retirement System, where a Los Angeles Appellate court fundamentally changed the application of Proposition 209 to include only one kind of discrimination–that involving preferential treatment.  The Baez court is the first to hold that Proposition 209 doe ...

Articles

Big victory for charter schools in Philadelphia

August 28, 2015 | By JOSHUA THOMPSON

The Commonwealth Court issued a major victory to charter schools in Philadelphia yesterday when it ruled the Philadelphia School District cannot unilaterally decide to ignore state law. In a case that PLF has been following very closely, the school district had tried to suspend state law law preventing it from imposing enrollment caps on charter & ...

Articles

Shameless EPA tries to side-step court order blocking enforcement of controversial Clean Water rule

August 28, 2015 | By REED HOPPER

It is hard to imagine a more blatant display of bureaucratic hubris than the EPA’s handling of its highly disputed rule redefining ” waters of the United States.” The rule was supposed to be a joint effort between the Corps of Engineers and the EPA, who share enforcement responsibility for the Clean Water Act.  But … ...

Articles

PLF challenges EPA’s power grab

August 27, 2015 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Pacific Legal Foundation is representing Wyoming rancher Andy Johnson in challenging an EPA compliance order threatening him with $37,500 per day in fines for constructing a stock pond on his property. PLF’s lawsuit, Andy Johnson v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, argues that Johnson’s pond is expressly exempt from the Clean Water ...