Articles

Supreme Court should wipe Thomas Jefferson High School ruling ‘off the books,’ Justice Alito says in dissent

February 22, 2024 | By CHRIS KIESER

We received heartbreaking news this week when the Supreme Court denied our petition for a writ of certiorari in Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board. The case challenged the school board’s overhaul of admissions at Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology—one of the best public high schools in America—undertaken t ...

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SCOTUS will not hear PLF case on discrimination in K-12. What happens now?

February 22, 2024 | By STEVEN D. ANDERSON

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will not hear our Thomas Jefferson High School case, a fight to determine whether public school students should be treated as individuals—on merit—or as members of racial groups. This is disappointing news for Pacific Legal Foundation and our clients, the Coalition for TJ: a group of ̷ ...

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National Review : States Should Jettison Chevron-Style Deference

February 22, 2024 | By ELIZABETH SLATTERY

Last month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases striking at the heart of a legal doctrine that props up the administrative state: Chevron deference. Herring fishermen are challenging a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regulation that requires them to pay the salary of federal monitors riding on their fishing boats. In the ...

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The constitutionality of legislatively imposed exactions

February 21, 2024 | By JAMES BURLING

“Where once government was closely constrained to increase the freedom of individuals, now property ownership is closely constrained to increase the power of government. Where once government was a necessary evil because it protected private property, now private property is a necessary evil because it funds government programs.” 1San R ...

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Zora Neale Hurston’s legacy of individual rights and equality

February 09, 2024 | By BRITTANY HUNTER

Zora Neale Hurston was a cultural icon of the Harlem Renaissance. Known for her prolific writing, especially her renowned novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston broke through racial barriers at a time when society was viewed primarily through a black or white lens. But Hurston’s artistic contributions to the countercultural zeitgeist of ...

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Discourse : Segregation By Any Other Name

February 08, 2024 | By ETHAN BLEVINS

School segregation has risen from the grave—disguised under a different name. An increasing number of school districts are offering “affinity classes” that cater to specific racial groups. Schools have long offered racially segregated options for electives such as African American history or mentorship programs. But the idea has begun ...

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How property ownership empowered a black community to thrive in the post-Reconstruction era

February 02, 2024 | By BRITTANY HUNTER

The Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction era were fraught with tumult as the Southern states struggled with economic devastation and ever-mounting racial tensions. With the end of the Civil War came the end of slavery and a burgeoning hope for racial equality. The newly ratified Fourteenth Amendment declared what the laws of nature had long since ...

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The Wall Street Journal : The Doctor Is In, but the Patient Is Out of State

February 02, 2024 | By SHANNON MACDONALD

State emergency orders during the Covid pandemic made it possible for patients in one state to consult with doctors in another via telephone and internet. Those orders have now expired, however, and that flexibility has ended. With limited exceptions, doctors can practice medicine only in states where they are licensed and where their patients are ...

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Fox News : The Supreme Court case that could help cities clean up homelessness

February 01, 2024 | By MARK MILLER

The plight of the homeless calls out to anyone with a heart. Drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness, and the outsized cost of housing have driven a sharp uptick in the number of homeless living in tents and makeshift camps in public places. The spiraling crisis – in all our big cities but particularly in the West … ...