Articles

Hawkes U.S. Supreme Court Victory Reaction

May 31, 2016 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

PLF Director of Litigation Jim Burling provides instant reaction and analysis after PLF’s 8th straight U.S. Supreme Court victory in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes. … ...

Articles

A new threat to the right to vote on taxes in California

May 31, 2016 | By MERIEM L. HUBBARD

Three times California voters have approved initiatives to limit the ability of local governments to impose new taxes without voter consent.  The California Tax Revolt began in 1978 when voters adopted Proposition 13 to control property tax increases.  On June 6, 1978, the largest turnout of California voters since 1958 resoundingly approved the ...

Articles

Michigan counties confiscating property rights

May 31, 2016 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

In Michigan, when landowners fail to pay their property taxes, local governments take the property, sell it, and keep all the profits—no matter how small the debt or how valuable the property. As a result, local governments are profiting handsomely over the misfortune of their residents. For example, a few years ago, Wayside Church lost … ...

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Landowners nationwide win their day in court!

May 31, 2016 | By REED HOPPER

For more than 40 years, millions of landowners nationwide have had no meaningful way to challenge wrongful application of the Clean Water Act to their land.  That changed today when a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled landowners have the right to challenge federal claims of jurisdiction in a court of law. The Clean Water Act … ...

Articles

Amicus brief filed in arbitration challenge

May 31, 2016 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Last week, PLF filed an amicus brief on behalf of a broad coalition of agriculture and property rights groups to challenge California’s so-called Mandatory Mediation and Conciliation Process.  The general rule for labor arbitration between private employers and employees is that the state can force you to negotiate, but it can’t force ...

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City of Perris v. Stamper oral argument recap

May 30, 2016 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

On Thursday morning, the California Supreme Court heard oral arguments in City of Perris v. Stamper. See our brief in the case here and our previous blog posts on the case here and here for background information on the case. The oral arguments appeared to show that the California Supreme Court may share some of the concerns … ...

Articles

Special live announcement on Murr V Wisconsin

May 27, 2016 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Pacific Legal Foundation makes a special live announcement in the Murr v. Wisconsin and County of St. Croix case. … ...

Articles

President's weekly report — May 27, 2016

May 27, 2016 | By ROB RIVETT

PLF testifies before Senate Subcommittee PLF’s Damien Schiff testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife concerning agency abuses of private property owners under the Clean Water Act.  (PLF’s testimony begins at minute 26:25 here).  We focused on a number of recent and ongoing PLF cases challenging E ...

Articles

Ubiquitous misstatements in the United States Senate

May 27, 2016 | By JAMES BURLING

On May 17 Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave a 17 minute speech to a largely empty Senate chamber attacking Exxon for that company’s alleged climate change denial. You can see the Senator’s speech here at the 9 hour mark. Whitehouse used the occasion to attack PLF as a “creepy front group” that is in the climate-change … ...