Articles

Today, we filed a legal challenge against Seattle’s heavy-handed attempt to squash its residents’ “unconscious bias.” A new Seattle ordinance forbids landlords from choosing their own tenants in a sweeping effort to prevent subliminal prejudices from tampering with their decisions. The law, however, will only hurt small-tim ...

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 ...

Calvin, from Calvin and Hobbes, wrote a letter to Santa one year: “Dear Santa, this year, please bear in mind that I should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Also, I would encourage you to interpret ‘reasonable doubt’ as broadly as possible.” The Supreme Court should issue Colorado a similar reminder. … ...

Should courts defer to democracy? Many do. In fact, most constitutional challenges face an uphill battle because courts hesitate to question the judgment of legislatures. In a brief filed today in the North Carolina Supreme Court, we explain how this judicial restraint veers from our constitutional commitment to liberty over democracy. … ...

Last Friday we received a disappointing decision in Duarte Nursery v. Army Corps of Engineers. The court ruled that the company violated the Clean Water Act by plowing its property, even though the Act exempts normal farming practices. And, the implementing regulations state that plowing is never even subject to the Act, so long as … ...

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 … ...

My friend, Prof. Don Boudreaux, sent this letter to the editor of the Christian Science Monitor in response to my column about how Obamacare violates the Origination Clause. He suggests that since Congress passed the bill without knowing what it contained, it also violates the due process clause. “In what universe is due process of law R ...

Earlier today I remarked how the Natural Resources Defense Council completely botched its analysis of this morning’s decision in Sackett v. EPA. Among other things, NRDC oddly suggested that the Supreme Court “did not give anyone a license to pollute,” as if the Sacketts’ mere request for judicial review of EPA’s egreg ...

The headlines in response to PLF’s landmark victory today in Sackett v. EPA have, for the most part, been fair and accurate.  CNN, for example, rightly noted that with today’s decision, “‘Little guy’ wins high court fight over property rights.”  Reuters reports that “U.S. top court backs landowners, limit ...