Federal government abuses Constitution through Endangered Species Act, new policy explainer reveals

Washington, DC; November 13, 2025: A new policy explainer details how the government has expanded its regulatory power beyond the Constitution to control property owners through the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Under the ESA, the federal government imposes regulations on property owners to protect species that live in a single state, even when they have little to no impact on interstate commerce.

“The Constitution’s Commerce Clause doesn’t give the government carte blanche to restrict property owners’ use of their land. The government can regulate interstate commerce, not species living purely within one state,” Mitchell Scacchi, research manager for Pacific Legal Foundation, said.

In the explainer, Intrastate Species under the Endangered Species Act, Scacchi compares the numbers of endangered and threatened animal species that are intrastate—living in one state—versus interstate—living in more than one state. Of the 673 endangered and threatened species, 375 are intrastate, meaning about 56% of animals covered under the ESA are beyond the Constitution’s scope. Yet activities on one’s property that alter these species’ habitats could result in over $60,000 in penalties for each alleged violation.

“The Commerce Clause is the claimed authority for the Endangered Species Act, but more than half of the endangered and threatened species covered by it live solely within one US state,” Scacchi added. “And no evidence exists of the substantial effect of isolated, intrastate species on interstate commerce.”