Articles

Wolves in your backyard?

July 22, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff This week, the Center for Biological Diversity submitted a petition to the Department of the Interior to have the United States Fish & Wildlife Service develop a nationwide wolf recovery program that could lead to the introduction of "wolf populations in suitable habitat in the Pacific Northwest, ...

Articles

Is the EPA's new Clean Water Act guidance already on the shoals?

April 20, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff For some time, the Corps and the EPA have been drafting revised guidance governing how the agencies  interpret the scope of their power under the Clean Water Act, following the Supreme Court's decision (and PLF's victory in) Rapanos v. United States.  (The agencies' current guidance document w ...

Articles

EPA admits that Sackett applies beyond the Clean Water Act

July 09, 2013 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

In Sackett v. EPA, the United States Supreme Court held that compliance orders issued by EPA under the Clean Water Act are judicially reviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act.  Earlier (and I may say rather quietly) this year, EPA’s Office of Civil Enforcement issued a memo to regional counsel and enforcement sections that interpret ...

Articles

US Supreme Court declines to hear Drakes Bay Oyster Company appeal

June 30, 2014 | By TONY FRANCOIS

Pacific Legal Foundation is very disappointed that the court declined to hear this very important case.  For now, Americans in certain parts of the country will remain subject to second class citizenship, because the federal courts are closed to them when federal agencies terminate their permits and licenses, even when those actions destroy jobs ...

Articles

Oral argument in sea otter case

May 03, 2016 | By JONATHAN WOOD

This Friday, May 6th, the Ninth Circuit will consider whether federal bureaucrats can escape judicial review of their illegal acts by pointing to their prior violations of the law. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service argues that PLF’s challenge to an illegal rule regarding the sea otter should not be heard because this isn’t the … ...

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Ninth Circuit oral argument in sea otter case

May 09, 2016 | By JONATHAN WOOD

Last week, I argued PLF’s sea otter case before the Ninth Circuit. The issue before the Court is an essential one, that could have impacts far beyond this case: Can federal agencies escape judicial scrutiny for illegal actions if they have violated the law before? That seems silly, I know. You may be familiar with … ...

Articles

Bureaucrats shouldn't be able to escape legal scrutiny

June 09, 2016 | By JONATHAN WOOD

Yesterday, Townhall published my op-ed highlighting the importance of PLF’s big, unanimous Supreme Court win in our Hawkes case (and its predecessor, Sackett) and whether these cases foreshadow anything for one of our cases currently pending before the Court. As regular readers know, the Supreme Court ruled in PLF’s favor in Hawkes, ho ...

Articles

Ninth Circuit strikes a blow for judicial review of administrative agencies

July 12, 2016 | By JONATHAN WOOD

This morning, the Ninth Circuit held that federal agencies cannot escape judicial scrutiny for illegal actions simply because they have violated the law before. In PLF’s sea otter case, we represent fishermen in a challenge to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s recent decision to terminate congressionally mandated protections for them ...

Articles

Briefing complete in the green sturgeon case

August 19, 2016 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

This week, we filed our reply brief to our request to the United States Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Building Industry Association of the Bay Area v. United States Department of Commerce. We have asked the High Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s ruling that landowners and other affected part ...