Agri-Pulse : How one state’s poultry lawsuit became a warrant-free search of another state’s farms
What is a state to do when it cannot regulate farmers outside its borders? The answer, apparently, is to sue someone else for 20 years, then force an unconstitutional settlement that binds farmers unrelated to the lawsuit. In 2005, Oklahoma did exactly that. It sued six large poultry companies for alleged pollution in the Illinois River Watershe ...
Washington Examiner : Stealing land in data center fight—What happened to property rights?
Last month, Nashville's mayor filed legislation to condemn a piece of private property. Often, condemnations are used to allow governments to acquire land to build roads or schools. But in this case, the condemnation was intended to stop a data center. A company had a lawful contract to buy the land, the zoning fight wasn't going the mayor's way, a ...
A can of spray paint is not an argument
Someone in upstate New York took an electric saw to them. In California, they've been knocked down and vandalized. In Idaho, a man rammed a truck into two of them. This summer, a 19-year-old worked his way down Florida's First Coast with cans of silver and gold spray paint, hitting cameras along the way; he told police he doesn't trust license-plat ...
Americans still believe in property rights. ‘Squatters’ proves it.
A new A&E series, Squatters, is bringing a frustrating reality into living rooms across America: homeowners who find themselves locked out of their own property while managing a confusing and often slow legal process to regain possession from trespassers. The show's popularity says something interesting about our culture. Americans don't spe ...
New York Post : Congress’ housing bill isn’t enough to fix California’s problems
This weekend, the most substantive housing bill in decades took effect without President Donald Trump's signature. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act has been described as the most ambitious federal housing legislation in a generation. Everyone understands that housing is too expensive in many places today because we don't build enough of it. ...
Law & Liberty : Chatrie and the Long and Winding Road to Privacy
In May 2019, a man robbed a credit union in Virginia, made off with $195,000, and vanished. Witnesses noticed only one odd detail: as he approached the bank, he appeared to be talking on his cell phone. Weeks later, with the trail cold, police tried something unimaginable a generation ago. They asked a magistrate for a "geofence warrant"—an order ...
Orange County Register : Newsom’s latest housing bill proves impact fees are extortion
Earlier this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new bill with the stated goal to "help expand homeownership, reduce costs, and support more affordable housing." Among other things, California Assembly Bill 179 identifies local development impact fees as barriers to housing opportunity—adding tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of new housing u ...
The family caught in the crosshairs of NYC’s rent control
Hundreds of activists filled the theater in East Harlem's El Museo del Barrio on June 25, while dozens more rallied outside. Despite the high temperatures and aggressive humidity, the crowds were filled with enthusiasm as they waved their scarlet signs and chanted "up up with tenant power, down down with real estate!" After nearly two months of ...
The Hill : It’s not ‘just’ to erase someone’s home equity
In 2019, Isabella County, Mich., seized Timothy Pung's family home over a disputed tax debt of roughly $2,000. The county sold the house — worth nearly $200,000 — for just $76,000. Months later, the buyer resold it for $195,000. The result was that the Pung family walked away with less than half the market value of their home, due to a small ta ...