Articles

The federal government regulates "navigable waters" under the Clean Water Act. The U.S. EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers define "navigable waters" to include millions of square miles of dry land (so they can then regulate the use of that land), and PLF is suing them over that bit of regulatory fiction. You can get a quick overview of the issues ...

Earlier this week, we filed our opening brief on appeal in Universal Welding & Fabrication, Inc. v. United States Army Corps of Engineers.  Our client, Universal Welding, is a family-owned steel and pipe fabrication business, based in North Pole, Alaska.  The company wants to expand its operations to a neighboring parcel.  This parcel has about ...

This morning PLF submitted a comment letter to the United States Army Corps of Engineers in response to the Corps' Proposal to Reissue and Modify Nationwide Permits under the Clean Water Act. The Act requires a permit for any discharge of dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States. Acquiring an individual permit is extremely expens ...

Today, the Stuart News—Florida's paper of record when it comes to the St. Lucie River—published my op-ed on the destruction the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers visits upon this river each day when the Corps discharges polluted waters into the St. Lucie River via the C-44 canal. You may think you don't know this story if you live outside of South Flori ...

On June 28, The Heritage Foundation will host a panel on Capitol Hill titled "Reducing the Regulatory Obstacles in Agriculture." While government has imposed many regulatory obstacles on individuals and business owners in virtually every industry, those that farmers face are multiplying rapidly. As we've explained many times on Liberty Blog, one of ...

As my fellow Liberty Bloggers have joyously explained, the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling for our clients in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co. will provide relief to millions of landowners whose property is subject to ever-expanding claims of federal jurisdiction and control. Just how important the Hawkes decision turns out to be will de ...

Earlier this week, no less than the Speaker of the House highlighted two of Pacific Legal Foundation's Clean Water Act cases as examples of overzealous enforcement by federal bureaucrats: Andy Johnson's fight against the EPA over his stock pond, and Duarte Nursery's battle with the Army Corps of Engineers over plowing his farm. Today the LA Times f ...

Today, on behalf of Duarte Nursery, Pacific Legal Foundation filed a motion for summary judgment against the Corps of Engineers on the company's due process claims against the agency. The Corps of Engineers ordered Duarte Nursery to stop farming its land, without giving the company a hearing. This violates the Fifth Amendment's prohibition against ...

Equality under the law: Race-preferences in university admissions Pacific Legal Foundation has been leading the fight for equality under the law since its founding in the early 1970s.  Back in 1978, we argued against racial preferences in the Supreme Court in the Bakke v. Regents of the University of California. And we have been fighting for Abiga ...