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Late yesterday, after the Ninth Circuit denied its petition for rehearing, Drakes Bay Oyster Company announced in a statement that it will seek relief in the United States Supreme Court.  The oyster farm is fighting for survival after the Department of the Interior refused to renew a permit that the farm needs to remain in … ...

Todd Gaziano, Executive Director of PLF’s DC Center, co-authored this blogpost. Last week, Pacific Legal Foundation filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of the United States in support of Century Exploration New Orleans LLC (Century) in its dispute with the United States Department of the Interior (Interior). Century is seeking Supreme ...

This morning, the California Court of Appeal issued its long-awaited decision in California Association for Recreational Fishing v. Department of Fish & Wildlife. PLF represented California’s recreational fishing interests in a challenge to regulations adopted by the Department in an Environmental Impact Report it certified in 2010. Th ...

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 … ...

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 ...

For administrative law nerds, U.S. Tenth Circuit Court Judge Neil Gorsuch’s concurring opinion this week calling for the High Court to reconsider its Chevron doctrine is about as thrilling as it gets!  Although it is hard to top, Tony Francois and I also savored the timing, given that we foreshadowed this type of opinion just … ...

As absurd as the titular question seems to ordinary people, an E&E News story quotes several law professors claiming the answer is “yes.” The story is a detailed analysis of the Red Tape Rollback project that Pacific Legal Foundation has launched with its partners—Heritage Foundation, Club for Growth, Competitive Enterprise In ...

The Congressional Review Act (“CRA”) defines “rule” broadly, to include any regulatory agency document that impacts the general public. The Congressional Review Act adopts the definition of “rule” from Section 551 of the Administrative Procedure Act, with some modifications. Specifically, for the purposes of the ...

PLF has filed an amicus brief in support of Scott Timber and the Union, and urged the Supreme Court to take up this case. … ...