Articles

Weekly litigation update — January 12, 2019

January 12, 2019 | By JAMES BURLING

Washington Supreme Court spurns Seattle’s tax gamble Washington State is one of a handful of states that characterizes individual income as private property, subject to the same protections as all other property. Thus, on seven occasions over the past eighty years, Washington’s high court has declared targeted income taxes unlawful unde ...

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Southwest ranchers are fighting back against federal bureaucrats’ abusive word games

January 10, 2019 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

Making a living ranching or farming in the harsh desert lands of American southwest is demanding enough. But federal bureaucrats have managed to make it even harder by playing word games to stretch the limits of federal law beyond recognition. That’s the case for ranchers in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, where the U.S. Fish and … ...

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Weekly litigation report — Holding federal agencies accountable

December 08, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

Judicial review essential to hold federal agencies accountable On December 7, PLF filed a complaint on behalf of New Mexico ranchers in Northern New Mexico Stockman’s Association v. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). This new lawsuit comes on the heels of our latest Supreme Court victory last week in Weyerhaeuser v. United States Fish and R ...

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Weekly litigation report — Another Supreme Court Win!

December 01, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

Another PLF win in the Supreme Court This week, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously (8–0 with Justice Kavanaugh not participating) in favor of PLF client Edward Poitevent and his family in Weyerhaeuser v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. In a factual sense, the decision concerns whether the endangered dusky gopher frog’s “critical ha ...

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Weekly litigation update — October 27, 2018

October 27, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

This road to the Supreme Court takes PLF through the U-P This week Pacific Legal Foundation filed its latest Petition for Writ of Certiorari at the Supreme Court of the United States challenging federal agency overreach in Marquette County Road Commission v. EPA. We’re taking on the EPA’s 2012 decision to veto a road project … ...

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Victory : Activists’ effort to worsen overcriminalization ends with a whimper

October 25, 2018 | By JONATHAN WOOD

In 2013, several environmental activist groups launched a lawsuit to expand the criminal reach of the Endangered Species Act. They challenged the United States’ longstanding interpretation of the statutes, which makes it a crime to “knowingly” “take” a protected species, to require defendants know their actions will ca ...

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Is It a ‘Species’ or a ‘Subspecies’? We Need Consistency.

October 09, 2018 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Late last year, PLF submitted a petition for rule-making to the Interior and Commerce Departments (and their delegate agencies the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service), requesting the promulgation of definitions for the terms “species” and “subspecies” as used in the Endangered Speci ...

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Weekly litigation update — October 6, 2018

October 06, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

A shy frog becomes the center of attention at the Supreme Court This week the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral argument in our Endangered Species Act case known as Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish & Wildlife Service. The Court accepted the case to consider two questions. First, whether the federal government … ...

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Weekly litigation update — September 29, 2018

September 29, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

PLF attorney gives congressional testimony on ESA reform This week, PLF attorney Jonathan Wood testified before the House Natural Resource Committee, urging Congress to improve the Endangered Species Act to reduce unnecessary conflict and provide better incentives to restore habitat and recover species. Based on Jonathan’s testimony, Congress ...