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. ...

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 p ...

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 adver ...

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 w ...

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. ...

Separation of Powers
Separation of Powers
January 26, 2024 2024-01-26
Supreme Court of the United States
Separation of Powers
This Court should overrule Chevron.
Separation of Powers
July 17, 2023 2023-07-17
Supreme Court of the United States
Separation of Powers
November 17, 2023 2023-11-17
Supreme Court of the United States
Property Rights
September 21, 2023 2023-09-21
Supreme Court of the United States
Property Rights
The Fifth Amendment’s Takings clause is self-executing and applies to the states. Victims of government-caused flooding need not file statutory civil rights claims, and their just compensation is not blocked by sovereign immunity.
Property Rights
May 10, 2023 2023-05-10
Supreme Court of the United States
Property Rights
On the merits, PLF tells the Court the Fifth Amendment’s Takings clause is self-executing and applies to the states. Victims of government-caused flooding need not file statutory civil rights claims, and their just compensation is not blocked by sovereign immunity.
Property Rights
November 17, 2023 2023-11-17
Supreme Court of the United States
June 28, 2024 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

Big Supreme Court decisions on executive power, agency courts, and the Eighth Amendment

What a way to head into the July 4th holiday: The Supreme Court announced big decisions on the penultimate day of the term—including an end to the doctrine responsible for decades of executive overreach.   Supreme Court overturns Chevron in Loper/Relentless  In today's decision in Loper Bright Enterprises/Relentless, the Supreme Court overturn ...

June 11, 2024 | By BRIAN HODGES

Development impact fees: Frequently asked questions

The Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Sheetz v. County of El Dorado could change how local and state governments extract development impact fees from property owners in exchange for building permits. In the April ruling, the Court held that development fee schedules are subject to judicial scrutiny under the doctrine of unconstitutional condi ...

April 14, 2024 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

The government had George Sheetz ‘over a barrel.’ He took his case to the Supreme Court—and won.

This post has been updated to reflect George Sheetz’s April 12 victory at the Supreme Court. Picture this: You're a 65-year-old retiree who bought a small parcel of land in El Dorado County, California. In your career you worked your way up from $5-an-hour laborer to head of your own engineering contracting company. Your plans ...

April 12, 2024 | By MARK MILLER

Washington Examiner: Justice Thomas leaves the door open for future challenges to rent control

Rent control is a bad housing policy that won't go away. Unfortunately, this term, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review not one, not two, but three cases that challenged New York City's 2019 iteration of the bad housing policy, euphemistically labeled "rent stabilization." But thanks to Justice Clarence Thomas, the proverbial third strike mi ...

February 22, 2024 | By CHRIS KIESER

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

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 to limi ...

February 22, 2024 | By STEVEN D. ANDERSON

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

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 ...

February 21, 2024 | By JAMES BURLING

The constitutionality of legislatively imposed exactions

"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 Remo Hotel L. ...

January 23, 2024 | By MARK MILLER

SCOTUS agrees to hear important case about homelessness

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a critical case about homelessness called City of Grants Pass v. Johnson. I wrote about this last week, and Fox News published my opinion. In this op-ed, I write: The plight of the homeless calls out to anyone with a heart. Drug and alcohol addiction, mental ...

January 19, 2024 | By ELIZABETH SLATTERY

How does a case get to the Supreme Court?

"I'll take it all the way to the Supreme Court." It's far easier said than done, and it can take years for a legal battle to wind its way through the courts. When the federal government is on the other side—as it often is in Pacific Legal Foundation cases—it takes a relentless, determined attitude to ...

January 19, 2024 | By LARRY SALZMAN

National Review: The Supreme Court’s Chance to Revive a Neglected Civil Right

Sheetz now comes to the Court asking it to confirm the role of the Takings Clause in securing one's right to build on property free of predatory conditions by the government. It should. ...

June 18, 2024

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

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 14, 2024

Fox News: Supreme Court decides case of California man charged $23,000 by county to build on his own land

The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously ruled that fees governments issue — even those imposed by a legislature — must be based on actual adverse impacts.

April 12, 2024

Los Angeles Times: Builders may fight impact fees that fund municipal projects in California, Supreme Court rules

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that developers and home builders in California may challenge the fees commonly imposed by cities and counties to pay for new roads, schools, sewers and other public imp…

April 12, 2024

Reason: Supreme Court Rules There Is No "Legislative Exception" to the Takings Clause

In Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, decided today, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that there is no “legislative exception” to the Takings Clause.

April 12, 2024

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

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.

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