Articles

A guide to squatters’ rights

March 28, 2024 | By MARK MILLER

Everywhere we turn these days we see stories of individuals taking up residence in properties they don’t own. It’s called “squatting,” but it’s nothing more than trespassing.  This explainer clarifies why squatting is immoral and illegal, why it’s growing, and how to stop it.  What is squatting? “Squattin ...

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These states are trying to bring back home equity theft

March 21, 2024 | By JIM MANLEY

States across the nation are responding to the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision last summer in Tyler v. Hennepin County, in which the Court held that home equity theft—when the government takes more than is owed when collecting a property tax debt—is unconstitutional. But some states have proposed reforms that would require property own ...

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Without property rights, we drift further down “The Road to Serfdom”

March 21, 2024 | By BRITTANY HUNTER

This month marks 80 years since F. A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom was originally published in Britain. (An American edition was published six months afterward.) The book has since been translated into 20 languages and sold several million copies, making it not only Hayek’s most notable work, but also one of the foremost treatises ̷ ...

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Stop hiring interns based on race, PLF tells Los Angeles Zoo

March 20, 2024 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

The Los Angeles Zoo—which is owned by the City of Los Angeles and receives 1.8 million visitors per year—selects its paid interns based on their race.   Pacific Legal Foundation sent a letter to the Zoo this week, pointing out that its discriminatory internship program likely violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause as well as ...

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Judge denies qualified immunity to officers who took children from family home without a court order

March 20, 2024 | By DANIEL WOISLAW

Last week, a judge ruled that parents Josh Sabey and Sarah Perkins’ lawsuit could move forward against government officials who stole their children from their home without a court order in the middle of the night. The basis for this action? A single x-ray of their sick infant showed an old, healing rib injury. Without … ...

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A mother’s fight to end discrimination and protect merit-based public education

March 06, 2024 | By BRITTANY HUNTER

A student’s race should not determine their access to public educational programs. The Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause specifically safeguards against this kind of discrimination. Yet, this is exactly what is happening in New York State’s Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP). Originally intended to help students prep ...

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State of the Modern Administrative State

March 05, 2024 | By OLIVER DUNFORD

The Constitution requires the president “from time to time” to “give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union.” Today, the State of the Union address is a performative event. But as George Will likes to remind us, ’twas not always thus: President Thomas Jefferson gave his thoughts to Congress in writing— ...

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Who wins if Chevron is overturned?

March 01, 2024 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo—the Supreme Court case that could overturn Chevron deference and remove judicial bias toward regulatory agencies—has been called “the plan to incapacitate the federal government.”   “Chevron shields the executive branch from overly intrusive court review,” law professor Nicholas Bag ...

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Frederick Douglass’ colorblind Constitution

February 27, 2024 | By RAFA OLIVEIRA

In the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford decision of 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that black slaves were never intended to be United States citizens. Chief Justice Roger Taney promptly denied Dred Scott his freedom from slavery in the 7-2 decision. Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri, owned by John Emerson in Missouri. In … ...