Issues

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

“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 ...

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 … ...

“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 ...

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 … ...

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 ...

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 ...