Articles

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 ...

The COVID-19 pandemic happened "gradually and then suddenly," to steal from Hemingway. In early 2020, the U.S. Commerce Secretary optimistically predicted that the coronavirus outbreak in China would "help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America." New York City's health commissioner encouraged New Yorkers "to go about their everyday lives ...

The government took his home in 2018 over a $588 property tax debt. But a few days before Christmas 2024, Kevin Fair, an ailing Nebraska widower, found out he was getting back the title to his home.   Now a GoFundMe has raised over $16,000 so Kevin, who recently had a stroke, can build a ramp for his home, make some other repairs, and meet upco ...

There are legal victories, and then there are legal victories—court rulings so decisive, so sharply written, that they can only be considered a judicial knockout.  Case in point: Al Hadian and Ralph Bookout's New Year's Eve victory against the California Coastal Commission.  The (brief) backstory  Al and Ralph sued the Commission in 2022 ...

You don't have to be a fan of flavored vapes to find the White Lion case, argued on December 2 at the Supreme Court, a fascinating example of a company struggling against an opaque and changing regulatory process.  The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, passed in 2009 under President Barack Obama, gives the Food and Drug Adminis ...

Kay Ray-Smith co-owns Tilt Vision, a mural painting business in Texas, with her husband Brad. Last year they filed a lawsuit against the city for banning their murals. A year into the lawsuit, Kay reflects on how the city not only jeopardized the couple's livelihood and infringed on their constitutional rights, but also deprived emerging artists of ...

Pacific Legal Foundation's 2023 Supreme Court victory in Tyler v. Hennepin County changed lives—and is now being recognized for advancing freedom and human progress in America.   For years, local governments across the country manipulated tax forfeiture laws to steal from vulnerable Americans—most of them ill, elderly, jobless, immigrant, ...

Here's a bizarre piece of American trivia: From 1887 to 1950, the U.S. government banned the word "tornado" from weather forecasts. Warning the public about possible tornadoes would cause panic, officials said. It was better to avoid the word altogether.  The ban applied to all weather forecasters in the government, but there was one man in par ...

Writing in The Dallas Morning News, Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys Luke Wake and Frank Garrison discuss the case of Robert Mayfield (which Luke argued at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Court earlier this month).   From Luke and Frank's op-ed:  As the owner of 13 Dairy Queen franchises in and around Austin, restaurateur Ro ...