National Review : Seize, Sell, Profit
In the despotic tradition of officeholders whose self-regard exceeds the bounds of their office, meet Patricia DePriest, tax assessor for Union Township in Isabella County, Mich. DePriest believed a family violated her personal vision of the law and set the wheels in motion to deprive them of their home and savings. And now, her overreach has becom ...
Bloomberg Law : States’ Property Seizures Highlight Sovereign Immunity Question
In a cage match between the judicially enforceable constitutional right to be justly compensated when one's property is taken, and a state's claim to sovereign immunity, which doctrine prevails? Two state property seizure cases are looking to get an answer from the US Supreme Court, which will decide whether to hear the cases during its "long confe ...
PLF and the history of unconstitutional conditions
"Your money or your life!" The armed bandit's classic demand offers no good options—handing over your wallet in this circumstance would never be a voluntary act, and laws treat both the threat and the theft as criminal acts. But what if the bandit wears an Uncle Sam mask? What if the government itself makes demands beyond its authority? This i ...
Here’s how big the Tyler victory is
On May 25, the Supreme Court ruled home equity theft unconstitutional in its unanimous Tyler v. Hennepin County decision. The case, argued by my colleague Christina Martin, challenged Hennepin County, Minnesota's confiscation of Geraldine Tyler's former home as payment for approximately $15,000 in back taxes, costs, interests, and penalties. Even t ...
Minnesota county compares itself to feudal lord in Supreme Court brief
When elderly grandmother Geraldine Tyler failed to pay her property tax debt on her Minneapolis condo, Hennepin County took absolute title to the property, extinguishing all of Ms. Tyler's interest, including any leftover proceeds after the taxes were paid. While the County was entitled to recover the back taxes, how could it justify greedily takin ...
Across the political spectrum, amici agree that home equity theft must end
On Wednesday, April 26, Pacific Legal Foundation senior attorney Christina Martin will argue Tyler v. Hennepin County at the Supreme Court. At issue is whether local governments can take absolute title to a person's home for tax debts, even when the home is worth more than the debt, interest, and costs. The case arose when Geraldine Tyler, then ...
Daily Journal : Washington agency boots Santa-clad right-to-work advocates
The Washington Department of Ecology allows public employee union representatives to communicate with workers in the building's public lobby but enacted a new policy that bans the Freedom Foundation, right-to-work advocates who also want to communicate with workers in the lobby about their First Amendment rights related to union membership. ...
When are T-shirts considered prohibited electioneering?
Elections end, but T-shirts can live forever. Until last week, Texas law prohibited voters from wearing an Obama or Reagan T-shirt in polling places, even when neither past president was on a present ballot. In fact, the law prohibited voters from wearing anything that an election worker deemed "electioneering" for or against any candidate, politi ...
Daily Journal : Property rights
The federal Civil Rights Act of 1871 authorizes Americans to sue in federal court to vindicate the government's violation of their civil rights. Congress guaranteed the federal forum out of concern that state courts could not entirely be trusted to protect constitutional rights. For this reason, civil rights plaintiffs generally may sue directly in ...