Articles

The American dream is built on property rights- why have we forgotten that?

April 02, 2025 | By STEVEN D. ANDERSON

Several years ago, an author defended looting in an NPR interview by arguing, "It's just property. It's not actually hurting any people." That justification stayed with me. How many Americans have forgotten that private property is how human beings implement their freedom in the world? Liberty is not just the freedom to think but also to do – ...

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The EPA and Army Corps asked for Clean Water Act recommendations. Here are ours.

April 01, 2025 | By CHARLES YATES

Note: The photo above is of the Sacketts' Idaho property (marked by dotted line), which the EPA claimed was regulable as "navigable water." It's been nearly two years since the Supreme Court ruled for our clients, Chantell and Mike Sackett, in the landmark Clean Water Act case Sackett v. EPA. Yet the government still isn't complying with the jus ...

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Will the Supreme Court stop unconstitutional delegations of the taxing power?

March 28, 2025 | By CAMERON HALLING

The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Wednesday in the case of FCC v. Consumers' Research, which involves a nondelegation challenge to the Telecommunications Act of 1996. PLF filed an amicus brief in the case—because the nondelegation doctrine, which says Congress cannot delegate its lawmaking responsibilities, is key to PLF's fight for the co ...

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Ghost guns case shows justices seriously engaging with statutory text

March 27, 2025 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

The Supreme Court's ghost guns decision in Bondi v. Vanderstok centers on a fundamental question of American law: What happens when federal agencies reinterpret decades-old statutes to expand their own power? The justices considered whether, under the Gun Control Act of 1968, Congress authorized ATF to regulate gun parts kits—often called "ghost ...

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Did President Trump break the law by firing FTC commissioners?

March 27, 2025 | By JOSH ROBBINS

On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, President Donald Trump summarily fired two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission. This would be an unremarkable occurrence at the start of a new presidential administration, except Congress restricted the president's ability to fire commissioners to instances of "inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance ...

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What was the impact of AB5 on California’s marginalized communities?

March 27, 2025 | By ALISON SOMIN

A few years ago, Jennifer Butler unexpectedly became a single mom to two young kids. At that time, she was working only a few hours a week while homeschooling them. But as an independent contractor, she was quickly able to pick up projects and cobble together meaningful work, following a schedule that suited her needs, so that she could continue ho ...

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The Arizona Court of Appeals is not horsing around when it comes to agency adjudication

March 21, 2025 | By ASHLEY LEVINE

This week, the Arizona Court of Appeals closed the loop on the state's recent legislative mandate for de novo review of agency decisions, officially ending substantial-evidence deference to agency-found facts. In doing so, the court followed Pacific Legal Foundation's constitutional avoidance argument presented in our amicus brief and noted that bo ...

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Rhode Island town seizes family’s land in eminent domain scandal

March 21, 2025 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

A shocking eminent domain scandal is unfolding in Johnston, Rhode Island: Last week, the Town secretly took possession of a family's 31-acre property, only notifying the owners afterward in a letter demanding they "remove all vehicles and other personal belongings from the property immediately" or they'd be served with a no trespass notice. "I w ...

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The Dispatch : Amy Coney Barrett Is Doing Her Job

March 19, 2025 | By ALISON SOMIN

"She's a big problem" blared a tweet featuring a photograph of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Given the opposition she faced from Democratic senators and the broader left during her confirmation hearings in 2020, one might suspect that the post came from a progressive critic. But the post, which has been liked more than 117,000 times, w ...