Articles

The Federalist : How A Cat With A Gunshot Wound Is Bringing Property Rights Disputes Before The Supreme Court

January 09, 2023 | By JIM MANLEY

Not many cases involving speeding and littering end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. Fewer still involve shooting a cat. Hardly any will set national policy for property rights disputes involving 620 million acres of federal lands. On Nov. 30, the Supreme Court heard arguments in just such a case. At issue in Wilkins v. … ...

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The Hill : California has a terrible labor law. The Biden administration wants to take it national.

October 10, 2022 | By JIM MANLEY

Three years ago this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed California Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) into law, essentially outlawing freelance journalism and most other independent contracting. … ...

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Free speech protects ideas, including the right to truthfully advertise

June 03, 2021 | By JIM MANLEY

Free speech is all around us, even in ways that might not be immediately obvious. We talk a lot about the First Amendment’s free speech protections during campaign season, when individuals want to express a deeply held idea, when they want to refrain from speaking, and when an idea is deemed “unacceptable” by certain groups. R ...

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The Hill : End it, don’t mend it

September 30, 2020 | By JIM MANLEY

When California’s controversial AB 5 law took effect Jan. 1, independent contractors suddenly found their ability to make a living in the Golden State in jeopardy. The public outcry from entrepreneurial freelancers and gig workers, who faced lost work opportunities and declining incomes, was powerful. Their protest intensified a couple of mon ...

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California passed a law trying to “fix” AB-5, but simply showed the damage its causing freelancers

September 01, 2020 | By JIM MANLEY

The California Legislature has been busy tinkering with AB 5—the disastrous ban on independent contracting it enacted last year that has crippled freelance journalism and driven Uber and Lyft to the brink of abandoning the Golden State. AB 2257—the “fix it” bill just passed to address the many practical problems created by AB 5—re ...

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California freelancers’ fight to earn a living is alive and well

August 21, 2020 | By JIM MANLEY

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday allowed an appeal to proceed that challenges freelancing restrictions imposed by California’s Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5). The State of California had asked for the case to be thrown out, but the Court did not grant that relief. Instead, the Court ruled that two separate appeals brought by … ...

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How local governments are stealing Arizonans’ home equity

February 19, 2020 | By JIM MANLEY

This article was co-authored by Daniel Dew, legal policy director for Pacific Legal Foundation. Jim Manley lives with his family in Phoenix, where he litigates in defense of individual liberty for PLF. Can the government seize your home over an $8 property tax miscalculation and leave you with nothing? In Arizona, and a shrinking number … ...

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The Hill : California law unjustly and unconstitutionally restricts freelance journalists

December 23, 2019 | By JIM MANLEY

Freelancing is a centuries-old practice. But with a controversial state law set to take effect Jan. 1, 2020, freelance journalism soon may become a thing of the past in California. Assembly Bill No. 5 (AB5) was enacted in 2019 to create a new three-part test under California law for determining whether someone is an independent … ...

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The Hill : Call the midwife — but not if you live in Georgia

December 16, 2019 | By JIM MANLEY

Debbie Pulley is a midwife, but if she told you that, the Georgia Board of Nursing would fine her $500. That’s because the board has barred the use of the title “midwife” by anyone who doesn’t hold a nursing license — even people like Pulley, who has spent the past 40 years delivering more than … ...