President's weekly report — October 16, 2015

Public trust doctrine in Indiana

We filed this amicus brief in Gunderson v. Indiana, a case where the state and local governments are asserting a public trust in land between Lake Michigan’s water line and a new, and largely fictional, administratively created “ordinary high water mark.”  Because of this new-found assertion, local governments have stopped enforcing trespass laws on this lake-shore private property.  As our blog notes, our amicus brief argues that when your deed says you own to the waterline, the State cannot ignore your deed and say, “no, you don’t, we’ve decided we want your property and now it’s ours.” Rather, the State of Indiana must respect the property deeds of private property owners on Lake Michigan.

Waters of the United States (WOTUS) challenge

After ten suits were filed around the country challenging EPA’s unprecedented land grab, the, including our own lawsuit, the Washington Cattlemen’s Association v. EPA, the government moved to transfer them all into one proceeding before the government-friendly D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals  We challenged the motion arguing it was unnecessary, unprecedented and self-serving.  This week, a multi-district panel denied the government’s motion.  This paves the way for each of the ten suits to be litigated where they were filed.  For more, see our blog here.WOTUS – Pacific Legal Foundation