Articles

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 ...

Articles

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— ...

Articles

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 ...

Articles

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 … ...

Articles

Supreme Court should wipe Thomas Jefferson High School ruling ‘off the books,’ Justice Alito says in dissent

February 22, 2024 | By CHRIS KIESER

We received heartbreaking news this week when the Supreme Court denied our petition for a writ of certiorari in Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board. The case challenged the school board’s overhaul of admissions at Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology—one of the best public high schools in America—undertaken t ...

Articles

SCOTUS will not hear PLF case on discrimination in K-12. What happens now?

February 22, 2024 | By STEVEN D. ANDERSON

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will not hear our Thomas Jefferson High School case, a fight to determine whether public school students should be treated as individuals—on merit—or as members of racial groups. This is disappointing news for Pacific Legal Foundation and our clients, the Coalition for TJ: a group of ̷ ...

Articles

National Review : States Should Jettison Chevron-Style Deference

February 22, 2024 | By ELIZABETH SLATTERY

Last month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases striking at the heart of a legal doctrine that props up the administrative state: Chevron deference. Herring fishermen are challenging a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regulation that requires them to pay the salary of federal monitors riding on their fishing boats. In the ...

Articles

The constitutionality of legislatively imposed exactions

February 21, 2024 | By JAMES BURLING

“Where once government was closely constrained to increase the freedom of individuals, now property ownership is closely constrained to increase the power of government. Where once government was a necessary evil because it protected private property, now private property is a necessary evil because it funds government programs.” 1San R ...

Articles

Zora Neale Hurston’s legacy of individual rights and equality

February 09, 2024 | By BRITTANY HUNTER

Zora Neale Hurston was a cultural icon of the Harlem Renaissance. Known for her prolific writing, especially her renowned novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston broke through racial barriers at a time when society was viewed primarily through a black or white lens. But Hurston’s artistic contributions to the countercultural zeitgeist of ...