Articles

Federal supremacy protects miners' rights

July 21, 2016 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

PLF and Western Mining Alliance have filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit case Bohmker v. Oregon. In the brief, we argue that federal mining policy preempts Oregon’s ban on a federally-approved and encouraged mining practice. Part of having a federalist system of government is deciding which level of government gets final say when R ...

Articles

Amicus briefs filed in the Hawkes case

March 02, 2016 | By MARK MILLER

Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen different amicus briefs, on behalf of well more than fifty organizations and individuals, including twenty-nine states, were filed today at the Supreme Court of the United States in support of Pacific Legal Foundation client Hawkes Company, Inc. Conversely, this is how many organizations and states filed amicus briefs s ...

Articles

Supreme Court issues decision in Alabama redistricting cases

March 25, 2015 | By CHRIS KIESER

This morning, the Supreme Court issued its decision in the combined Alabama redistricting cases – Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama and Alabama Democratic Conference vs. Alabama. PLF filed this amicus brief before the Court. The plaintiffs in these cases challenged Alabama’s 2010 redistricting plan as an unconstitutional racia ...

Articles

Why the Colbert Report is wrong about friend-of-the-court briefs

October 10, 2014 | By WENCONG FA

Various news and entertainment outlets have questioned the usefulness of friend-of-the-court briefs (also known as amicus briefs) at the Supreme Court. Both the New York Times and the Colbert Report recently endorsed a law professor’s article questioning the validity of facts in those briefs. Both imply that amicus briefs should not be taken ...