Articles

If a federal agency does something wrong to you—if bureaucrats penalize you for something you didn’t do, or cheat you out of something that should be yours—the courts should set things right. But sometimes, instead, a court will invoke Chevron Deference and defer to the federal agency.  Chevron Deference is a doctrine created by the  ...

Pacific Legal Foundation’s Supreme Court victory in Tyler v. Hennepin County created a domino effect across the country. State by state, legislatures are banning home equity theft. Governments have realized that they face significant liability if they ignore the Supreme Court’s ruling that home equity theft is unconstitutional.   In th ...

In her concurring opinion in Sackett v. EPA, Justice Elena Kagan—probably the sharpest rhetorician on the bench, especially when she’s disagreeing with her colleagues—complained the Court’s majority was putting “a thumb on the scale for property owners.”   Well: Shouldn’t there be a thumb on the scale for property ...

The first case Christina Martin ever argued in court wasn’t big enough to catch most public interest attorneys’ attention. It was about a ticket on a car.   Christina was a young Pacific Legal Foundation attorney in her first real legal job. She’d moved cross-country from Oregon to Florida for “her dream job” at PLF. ...

In 2018, accordionist Tony Barilla wrote in the Houston Press about his quest to play music on the city’s street corners—a quest that led him into a frustrating maze of bureaucracy. Busking was outright banned in most of Houston. Musicians could play in public spaces only if they didn’t accept tips.   Tony was happy … ...

The Wall Street Journal editorial board has thrown its support behind Pacific Legal Foundation client Chuck Garrity, owner of Death of the Fox Brewing Company, who is suing the New Jersey Division of Alcohol Beverage Control over its restrictions on breweries.  In a biting editorial, the Journal recounts some of the arbitrary and burdensome rules ...

If you like courtroom dramas, legal controversies, and the strange-but-true stories behind big Supreme Court cases, this list of best legal podcasts is for you.   Note: We’re not including true crime in our definition of legal podcasts—although some of the below podcasts do dive into the occasional murder case. True crime podcasts are a ...

One hundred years ago, on Nov. 13, 1922, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an Asian man could not become an American citizen because of his race. Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court considered whether universities can exclude Asian students because of their race.  … ...

The federal minimum wage set by Congress is $7.25. But the Department of Labor says Duke Bradford, an outdoor adventure guide in Colorado, must pay his guides $15/hour plus overtime—including on overnight trips—because the department considers Duke a government contractor.   Why? In Colorado, the federal government owns over a third of the lan ...