Direct Representation Cases:

Wins

Losses

Total

Sheetz v. County of El Dorado

Supreme Court rules against extortionate permit fees

Once his land was ready and all George needed was a county building permit, he was stunned when told he could have his permit, but only if he paid a so-called traffic impact fee of more than $23,000. George weighed the immense cost against the hard work he put into his land and his yearning for a retirement home, and he paid the fee under protest. The County ignored his protest, so George sued, arguing the fees constituted an unconstitutional permit condition under three Supreme Court decisions—including two PLF victories.

sackett property

Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency

Supreme Court limits Clean Water Act abuse in victory for property owners

One of the longest-running legal battles in the history of the Clean Water Act doesn’t involve mega-polluters dumping toxic chemicals into America’s major rivers and lakes. Rather, it involves a couple who wanted to build a home on less than an acre of land in a residential neighborhood. And now, that case could have ramifications for property owners around the country.

Wil Wilkins walking in mountains

Wilkins v. United States

Government bait-and-switch tramples on property rights and peace of mind

Wil Wilkins and Jane Stanton live next to Montana’s Bitterroot National Forest. A road that crosses both of their properties is the result of a limited-use easement granted to the U.S. Forest Service by the properties’ previous owners in 1962. The general public is not supposed to use the road, but in 2006 the Forest Service began advertising the road as public. Since then, public use of the road has caused serious traffic hazards, road damage, fire threats, noise, trespassing, illegal hunting, and speeding, as well as a gunshot aimed at Wil’s cat. Because the Forest Service is essentially trying to gain a better easement than it paid for back in 1962, Wil and Jane are fighting back.

Beautiful Home in Minneapolis

Tyler v. Hennepin County

Victory! Supreme Court declares home equity theft unconstitutional

On May 25, 2023, the Supreme Court announced a unanimous decision in favor of Geraldine, ruling that home equity theft violates the Takings Clase of the Fifth Amendment. The Court explained that property rights are fundamental and cannot be erased by a state statute that redefines them out of existence. “The taxpayer must render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the decision, “but no more.”

cedar_point-Nursery

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. Even though property owners have a right to exclude trespassers, the state’s Union Access Regulation takes an easement that allows these union organizers to enter a business’s private property three hours a day, 120 days a year. The businesses asked the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate California’s unlawful regulation and affirm that government can’t allow unions to invade private property and disrupt commercial operations without paying compensation for a property taking. On November 13, 2020, the Supreme Court announced that the justices would hear the case.

Property Rights
"Does the Fourth Amendment permit warrantless searches of customer records held by third-party ser- vice providers if the records are contractually owned by the customer, or if those records enable surveillance of future behavior?"
Property Rights
March 28, 2025 2025-03-28
Supreme Court of the United States
Separation of Powers
"The NRC is suppressing judicial review of purely legal questions that speak directly to its own power."
Separation of Powers
January 22, 2025 2025-01-22
Supreme Court of the United States
Separation of Powers
"The timing of judicial review implicates core separation of powers concerns that transcend immigration law."
Separation of Powers
January 10, 2025 2025-01-10
Supreme Court of the United States
Equality and Opportunity
“It is no longer the unusual employer that discriminates against majority groups.”
Equality and Opportunity
December 16, 2024 2024-12-16
Supreme Court of the United States
Property Rights
“The question presented is whether an eviction moratorium depriving property owners of the fundamental right to exclude nonpaying tenants effects a physical taking.”
Property Rights
November 15, 2024 2024-11-15
Supreme Court of the United States
Property Rights
“This Court’s precedents have established that the federal government may exercise sovereign power over land it owns, to the exclusion of the state.”
Property Rights
October 22, 2024 2024-10-22
Supreme Court of the United States
June 05, 2025 | By BRITTANY HUNTER

Supreme Court unanimously rules against unequal standards in workplace discrimination cases

The Supreme Court just unanimously ruled that white, male, or other majority-group employees do not have to meet a higher legal burden to prove workplace discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Ri…

June 02, 2025 | By SAM RUTZICK

Supreme Court ends the abuse of NEPA—and encourages the abundance agenda

Fifty-five years ago, Congress passed and President Richard Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) into law. For a number of infrastructure projects that are built, funded, or appro…

March 28, 2025 | By CAMERON HALLING

Will the Supreme Court stop unconstitutional delegations of the taxing power?

The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Wednesday in the case of FCC v. Consumers’ Research, which involves a nondelegation challenge to the Telecommunications Act of 1996. PLF filed an amicus brie…

March 27, 2025 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

Ghost guns case shows justices seriously engaging with statutory text

The Supreme Court’s ghost guns decision in Bondi v. Vanderstok centers on a fundamental question of American law: What happens when federal agencies reinterpret decades-old statutes to expand their …

March 14, 2025 | By ALLISON DANIEL

A deportation case that could affect your right to challenge government power

On March 24, the Supreme Court will hear a case that, while technically about immigration, could affect every American’s ability to challenge government overreach. At stake is whether people have a …

February 28, 2025 | By BRITTANY HUNTER

Supreme Court case could end unequal standards in workplace discrimination lawsuits

Workplace discrimination doesn’t, well … discriminate; it can happen to anyone regardless of race, gender, or religion. Yet, while it can, and certainly does, happen to anyone, the burden of proof…

February 20, 2025 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

Does SCOTUS ❤️ political accountability?

Happy Thursday, SCOTUS Lovers. There weren’t any arguments over the past two weeks, but here’s a quick update on what else was happening at the marble palace that never sleeps. Political accountab…

January 24, 2025 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

TikTok, Texas, and President Trump’s Executive Orders

Happy New Year!  A lot has happened in the first couple weeks of 2025. In fact, a massive social media company has already managed to argue before the Court, get an adverse decision, shut down for a …

January 21, 2025 | By KYLE GRIESINGER

In post-Chevron mine case, DC Circuit won't defer to regulators

What is a mine? That shouldn’t be an impossible question. You would think that the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) would have a reasonable definition—after all, they’re charged with…

December 20, 2024 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

TikTok's time's up?

Happy Holidays! My gift to you is this incredibly informative (and perfectly charming) newsletter summing up the past two weeks at the Supreme Court.  TikTok time’s up?  The Court announced yester…

June 10, 2025

WJBF: Supreme Court unanimously revives straight woman’s ‘reverse discrimination’ lawsuit

The Supreme Court unanimously revived a straight woman’s “reverse discrimination” case against her former employer Thursday, lowering the legal hurdle for white and straight employees to bring s…

March 19, 2025 | By ALISON SOMIN

The Dispatch: Amy Coney Barrett Is Doing Her Job

Popular though such takes may be, they not only mischaracterize Justice Barrett’s record but betray a more fundamental misunderstanding of the job of a Supreme Court justice. Reasonable minds can di…

October 3, 2024 | By ALISON SOMIN

New York Post: US counties still stealing homes despite Supreme Court ruling

If homeowners miss property tax payments, even if they never received the bills, some towns grab the whole house and keep the proceeds.

September 16, 2024 | By ALISON SOMIN

DNT Progressive Farmer: Pacific Legal Foundation Calls Out EPA

The Pacific Legal Foundation said in a new court filing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is doing with the tailpipe emissions rule exactly what the Supreme Court said federal agencies cannot d…

September 10, 2024 | By ALISON SOMIN

E&E News: The next frontier in the Supreme Court war against agency power

“If the court embraces our view of the nondelegation doctrine, it would mean agencies can’t just go out and search for any sort of open-ended language to justify any rule they might want,” said …

August 27, 2024 | By ALISON SOMIN

Reason: This Nebraska Man Almost Lost His Home and All of Its Equity Over a Small Tax Debt. He Just Won in Court.

Kevin Fair fell behind on his property taxes in 2014. The local government eventually gave a private investor the deed to his home.

August 23, 2024 | By ALISON SOMIN

Nebraska Examiner: NE Supreme Court rules in government-assisted ‘home equity theft’ cases

The Pacific Legal Foundation said the decision sends a signal to other states that haven’t yet complied with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Tyler “that property owners’ rights must be protecte…

June 18, 2024 | By ALISON SOMIN

The Hill: This Supreme Court term, a group of fishermen are poised to undo an injustice

The Supreme Court’s recent blockbuster cases have had to do with hot-button issues like abortion, racial preferences and guns. But this year, one of the court’s most highly anticipated cases has t…

April 22, 2024 | By ALISON SOMIN

Fox News: Supreme Court can fix the homeless crisis that the government caused

On Monday, April 22, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson. The question before the justices is: did the Ninth Circuit correctly hold that the Eighth Amendment preven…

April 12, 2024 | By ALISON SOMIN

SCOTUSblog: Court rules for property owner in building fee dispute

California homeowner George Sheetz won a victory at the Supreme Court on Friday in his challenge to the constitutionality of a fee that he was required to pay the county to receive a permit to build h…

March 25, 2024 | By ALISON SOMIN

Discourse Magazine: The End of Chevron

Overturning this 1984 case that gives deference to agency interpretations of statutes would better preserve the constitutional functions of each branch of the federal government.

May 15, 2015 | By ALISON SOMIN

Washington Examiner: Supreme Court uncertain about solution to nationwide injunction ‘epidemic’

The Supreme Court on Thursday signaled deep uncertainty over how, or whether, to rein in the growing use of nationwide injunctions, a legal tool that has repeatedly stymied President Donald Trump’s …

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