Articles

Author:  Damien M. Schiff Today the Supreme Court handed down a landmark victory for free speech protections.  In Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, the Court (in an opinion authored by Justice Kennedy and joined by the Chief Justice, with Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito) overruled two decisions—Austin and McConne ...

Author: Joshua Thompson Last week PLF filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn.   This case marks the first time the Supreme Court will rule on an Establishment Clause challenge to a school choice program since its landmark decision in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris.  Arizona Christan School i ...

Author:  Anne Hayes For all that the administration pooh-poohs the idea that the national healthcare bill is no big constitutional deal, there is no avoiding the fact that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, is unprecedented.  For the first time, Congress is mandating that citizens spend t ...

Author:  Damien M. Schiff The Supreme Court ruled earlier this week in Arizona Free Enterprise Club's Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, that Arizona's matching funds law, which gives money to candidates who accept certain campaign restrictions and obligations and gives additional funds if the candidates run against privately fi ...

The internet, having become the ubiquitous tool for discovering information, communicating,  conducting business and socializing, has completely transformed modern society. Do you remember life before email? Before search engines? Remember having to go to the library to pick up tax forms and to figure out the proper zip code for an address? Rem ...

PLF filed a brief today in CTIA v. San Francisco, CTIA’s challenge to San Francisco’s alarmist cell-phone warning scheme. San Francisco adopted an ordinance in 2010, modified in 2011, which requires cell phone retailers to post warning signs, distribute a “fact sheet”, and affix on cell phones warning labels that all include ...

Earlier today, the California Supreme Court denied review of the case Vargas v. City of Salinas, which sought review of an outrageous, ruinous award of over $250,000 in attorneys’ fees against two individuals who brought a nonfrivolous public interest lawsuit against a city (they won a legal issue, but lost on the facts).  PLF filed … ...

As we move slowly towards the over-the-top nanny-state envisioned in Demolition Man, with the state empowered to regulate even the most mundane of human interactions, one might be tempted to drop a few choice words in disbelief. In Massachusetts, that expression might cost you a few bucks . This week, residents in Middleborough, Massachusetts vote ...

The Supreme Court today issued its decision in Knox v. SEIU, the union fees case in which PLF (joined by Cato, MSLF, and CCJ), filed this amicus brief. The case was about whether the union violated the law by requiring non-members to pay a special assessment to support a political campaign without first issuing the … ...