835 Hinesburg Road, LLC v. South Burlington
Fighting to Open Courtroom Doors to Property Takings Claims
Jeff Nick and his business partner, Jeff Davis, are responsible for some of the most substantial development in Vermont, including the state's first Walmart. In 2000, they bought a large swath of industrially zoned land in a high growth area of South Burlington (pictured above). The property's location and infrastructure made it ripe for the ...
Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence v. School Committee
Parents fight discrimination-by-proxy at Boston’s elite public schools
The coalition is appealing for equal opportunity for all students to compete now, and to prevent similar discriminatory policies in the future. ...
McKinney v. Vilsack
Race-based COVID-19 farm loan forgiveness denies equal treatment to Texas farmer
Jarrod McKinney began his farming journey about eight years ago with help from a federal loan for beginning farmers. Like many farmers in the Texarkana region, Jarrod raises cattle, tending today to 60 pairs. Like many farmers facing economic hardship in the pandemic's aftermath, Jarrod was hopeful when he heard about a farm loan forgiveness provis ...
Morton v. Vilsack
Race-based COVID-19 farm loan forgiveness denies equal treatment to Illinois farmers
Matthew and Joshua Morton are brothers and full-time farmers in Kell, Illinois. Like many Southern Illinois farmers, they grow soybeans, wheat, and corn on their farm. And like many farmers across the country, they have federal farm loans with an outstanding balance. ...
Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board
Fighting race-based discrimination at nation’s top-ranked high school
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, or TJ, is the nation's top-ranked public high school. Fairfax County Public Schools' (FCPS) recent changes to TJ's admissions process specifically aim to reduce the number of Asian-American children—and only Asian-American children—who can attend TJ. The school district's race-based admis ...
Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid
Supreme Court affirms property rights for California fruit growers
Cedar Point Nursery and Fowler Packing Company are California growers that produce fruit for millions of Americans. Collectively, they employ around 3,000 Californians. In 2015, the United Farm Workers (UFW) viewed the workers as ripe for the picking and sent union organizers to storm the workplaces during harvest time to encourage them to unionize ...
Seider v. City of Malibu
Property rights on the line in family’s battle for beachfront signage
Dennis and Leah Seider simply want to alert beachgoers to where the public right of access to the beach ends, the Seiders' private Malibu property begins, and the way to the nearby public beach. Their best hope to protect their property rights and avoid potential confrontations with beachgoers would be a sign. But that hope faded when they learned ...
AFEF v. Montgomery County Public Schools
Parents fight racial balancing efforts that deny educational opportunities
Montgomery County Public Schools is Maryland's largest public school district and one of the best in the state, with a robust magnet program for gifted and talented students. The district recently changed its admissions criteria for magnet programs at four middle schools ostensibly to make the programs more "equitable." But the changes have created ...
Pavlock v. Indiana
Family sues to stop Indiana’s beachfront land grab
The Pavlock family has owned property along Indiana's Lake Michigan shoreline for generations. Last year, a ruling by the Indiana Supreme Court redefined state law to move lakefront owners' property lines from the water's edge or below to the lake's ordinary high-water mark, turning large swaths of private beach into public property without compens ...