Articles

What are transferable development rights?

April 30, 2010 | By LUKE WAKE

We all know that the Fifth Amendment protects our right to use and enjoy our property. But, that doesn’t stop government regulators from trying to find innovative ways to get around the Fifth Amendment. In recent years land use planners have begun experimenting with “transferable development rights” as a way to avoid liability un ...

Articles

The bald eagle still flying high

December 20, 2010 | By REED HOPPER

The bald eagle was listed as a protected species in the lower 48 States under the Endangered Species Act in 1978.  Fortunately, by 1999, the eagle had sufficiently recovered for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists to recommend the delisting of the American icon.  However, the eagle languished on the protected list for years without any a ...

Articles

Misquoting Federalist 78

March 18, 2011 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

One of my long-standing pet peeves is the way advocates of “judicial restraint” often mis-quote Alexander Hamilton’s brilliant Federalist 78. They’re particularly fond of the Federalist 78 phrase “if they the courts should be disposed to exercise WILL instead of JUDGMENT, the consequence would equally be the substituti ...

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Eternal vigilance the price of freedom

July 23, 2012 | By REED HOPPER

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance” is generally ascribed to Thomas Jefferson.  Given Jefferson’s love for freedom, it’s an apt attribution.  But it has been reported that John Philpot Curran expressed this same sentiment in a speech upon the Right of Election in 1790 (published in a book titled “Speeches on ...

Articles

I spy with my little eye a “water of the United States”

December 11, 2012 | By JENNIFER THOMPSON

Or so says the United States Army Corps of Engineers about the pictured property.  Can you see the water on this property?  We can’t, which is why we are taking the Corps to court in our newest lawsuit, Smith v. U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. Here’s the story: PLF clients Peter and Frankie Smith bought … ...

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Drink up! PLF challenges Florida’s ban on growlers

October 28, 2014 | By MARK MILLER

“Growlers” are jugs of beer that patrons buy at craft beer establishments and then bring home to drink, and later carry to other taverns, breweries or restaurants, for refills with various varieties of custom brewed beer. In the vast majority of America, a 64-ounce growler is the industry standard, and enthusiasts collect and re-fill t ...

Articles

News flash : people like beer

October 31, 2014 | By MARK MILLER

When Pacific Legal Foundation agreed to represent The Crafted Keg in its challenge to the State of Florida’s ban on craft-beer growlers, PLF had no idea of the attention that the case would receive. PLF should have known of course, since experts in the field of beer recognize its importance to human culture. A variety of … ...

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Florida growls back at PLF

November 20, 2014 | By MARK MILLER

Yesterday, the State of Florida filed its response to Pacific Legal Foundation’s lawsuit on behalf of The Crafted Keg. In that suit, PLF seeks to overturn Florida’s irrational ban on 64-ounce beer growlers. Not surprisingly, the government has moved to dismiss the case, once again reflecting that governments rarely meet a PLF case th ...

Articles

PLF asks court to deny Florida’s attempt to stop growler ban lawsuit

December 17, 2014 | By MARK MILLER

Earlier today, Pacific Legal Foundation filed its response in opposition to the State of Florida’s motion to dismiss PLF’s lawsuit challenging the State’s irrational law banning beer growlers. The growler, of course, is the industry-standard half-gallon containers of beer that craft beer enthusiasts prefer throughout the United S ...