Articles

The Ninth Circuit just issued a disappointing decision affirming the federal conviction of a Montana man for building some ponds without a Clean Water Act permit. Joseph Robertson argued that the Constitution's Due Process Clause prevents the government from prosecuting him for violating the Act, because it is endlessly confusing as to where it app ...

PLF recently filed a friend of the court letter with the California Supreme Court, encouraging the justices to grant review in an important due process challenge against the California Coastal Commission. The Coastal Commission brought a highly questionable enforcement action against our friends at Drakes Bay Oyster Company, accusing the company o ...

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 the American Farm Bureau released this video highlighting Pacific Legal Foundation's fight on behalf of California family farming company Duarte Nursery, Inc., to vindicate farmers' due process rights in environmental enforcement. In addition to its due process lawsuit against the Corps of Engineers, Duarte Nursery is also a plaintiff ...

Due Process is a basic element of the rule of law, giving form to the principle that government must act in accord with the law, even when enforcing the law. In the simplest sense, due process is what prevents the government from making secret decisions that deprive you of your life, liberty, or property. This tends to prevent the state from making ...

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 ...

Today, after the federal court granted leave to file an amended pleading, Duarte Nursery, Inc., and its president, John Duarte, filed this amended complaint against the United States and the Corps of Engineers, to add a claim for First Amendment retaliation to Duarte's already pending due process claims against the Army Corps. After Duarte sued ...

In the course of California's long drought, state regulators have taken ever more aggressive measures to gain control of local and private water supplies, under cover of emergency declarations from Governor Brown, and emergency regulations adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board. Some of these measures are aimed at requiring additional c ...

In Duarte v. Corps of Engineers, the trial court has, for the second time, denied a motion by the federal government to dismiss Duarte Nursery's claims for violation of the Due Process Clause against the Army Corps of Engineers. Over two years ago, the Army Corps ordered Duarte off its farm over alleged violations of the Clean Water Act without aff ...