Articles
Delta smelt update : oral argument recap
Author: Brandon Middleton Last week in Fresno, a federal district court heard oral arguments concerning issues related to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's delta smelt biological opinion. One important matter heard by the court was Pacific Legal Foundation's constitutional cause of action -- given that the delta smelt is found only in Ca ...
Articles
Thoughts on PLF's delta smelt Commerce Clause challenge
Author: Brandon Middleton Last week a federal district court in Fresno rejected Pacific Legal Foundation's constitutional challenge to the federal government's devastating delta smelt water restrictions. Even though the delta smelt is a noncommercial species that is found only in California, the court ruled that the U.S. F ...
Articles
Challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Author: Damien M. Schiff This week, the attorneys general of fourteen states filed two lawsuits in federal district courts in Florida and Virginia, challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The Florida suit, brought by 13 attorneys general, raises a number of constitutional claims agai ...
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PLF will fight “Obamacare” on constitutional grounds
The Obama Administration's health care legislation raises compelling questions about the limits of federal power. The requirement on individuals to buy health insurance, for example, negates the freedom not to buy a designated product, and pushes beyond a reasonable understanding of federal authority to regulate interstate commerce. PLF alread ...
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The smelt, Ogden Nash, and the Commerce Clause
Author: Damien M. Schiff I found myself rummaging though an old anthology of Ogden Nash's comic verse, and found this delightful poem. If only Nash were an authority for why regulation of the Delta smelt is beyond Congress' power over interstate commerce! THE SMELT Oh, why does man pursue the smelt?It has no valuable pelt,It ...
Articles
The Commerce Clause fight : a new battleground
Author: Damien M. Schiff This week, Pacific Legal Foundation filed comments on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service's status review for the Sacramento splittail (a small fish) under the Endangered Species Act. The Service has initiated the status review to determine whether the splittail, which was listed in 1999, and deli ...
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The case of Clean Water Act legislation and ever-expanding government
Author: M. Reed Hopper One of the most insidious pieces of legislation ever introduced in Congress is the so-called Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007, H.R.2421. That bill, authored by Representative James Oberstar (D), purported to restore the "original intent" of Congress to subject "all" waters in the United States to federal control aft ...
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Elena Kagan and the delta smelt
Author: Brandon Middleton Folks are concerned about Elena Kagan's response (or lack thereof) to Sen. Tom Coburn's questions about Commerce Clause jurisprudence. And rightly so. Here it is in case you missed it: The government that is regulating a noncommercial fish is the same government that will dictate your nutrition. ...
Articles
Orange you disappointed Kagan didn't answer the question?
Author: Anne-Marie Dao Uncle Sam wants you ... to eat your fruits and vegetables daily. During her recent confirmation hearings, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan was asked by Senator Tom Coburn whether Congress has power under the Commerce Clause to pass a law requiring Americans to eat fruits and vegetables daily. Ms. Kagan declined to say no. Si ...