Articles

Review denied in green sturgeon case

October 12, 2016 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Yesterday, we received the disappointing news that the Supreme Court denied our petition for certiorari to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Building Industry Association of the Bay Area v. United States Department of Commerce. Our petition asked the High Court to accept the case in order to decide the question of whether an agency dec ...

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Weekly litigation report — August 14, 2016

August 20, 2016 | By JAMES BURLING

Property rights — California Supreme Court rules on compensation issues Complaint filed in extortionate low-income housing demand Ancient custom of beach driving? Sign ban repealed Endangered species and the green sturgeon Shoreline buffer exactions challenge at the Supreme Court WOTUS rule pass Property rights — California Supreme Cour ...

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Briefing complete in the green sturgeon case

August 19, 2016 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

This week, we filed our reply brief to our request to the United States Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Building Industry Association of the Bay Area v. United States Department of Commerce. We have asked the High Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s ruling that landowners and other affected part ...

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Bureaucrats shouldn't be able to escape legal scrutiny

June 09, 2016 | By JONATHAN WOOD

Yesterday, Townhall published my op-ed highlighting the importance of PLF’s big, unanimous Supreme Court win in our Hawkes case (and its predecessor, Sackett) and whether these cases foreshadow anything for one of our cases currently pending before the Court. As regular readers know, the Supreme Court ruled in PLF’s favor in Hawkes, ho ...

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Amicus support for the green sturgeon petition

June 07, 2016 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

In the last few days, we’ve received a great collection of amicus briefs supporting our cert petition challenging the Ninth Circuit’s decision in the green sturgeon case, Building Industry Association of the Bay Area v. United States Department of Commerce.  The issue presented is whether a landowner can seek judicial review of the g ...

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Is economically disastrous environmental regulation subject to judicial review?

May 04, 2016 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

So ask PLF attorneys on behalf of trade and property rights groups in a cert petition filed this week.  The case, Building Industry Association of the Bay Area v. United States Department of Commerce, concerns the critical habitat designation for a population of the North American green sturgeon.  The sturgeon is a species of fish listed … ...

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Adverse decision in green sturgeon critical habitat challenge

July 07, 2015 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Today a Ninth Circuit three-judge panel issued a remarkable legal opinion.  The bottom line: Decisions to include areas as part of critical habitat for endangered or threatened species under the ESA are judicially reviewable, while decisions not to exclude areas from critical habitat are not judicially reviewable.  It’s one heck of a ...

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Green sturgeon critical habitat challenge : oral argument this week

March 03, 2015 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

On Thursday, March 5, 2015, at 9 a.m., I’ll be arguing at the 9th Circuit in support of our challenge under the Endangered Species Act to the critical habitat designation for a marine species known as the green sturgeon.  The critical habitat designation encompasses virtually the entire West Coast of the United States, making any developme ...

Articles

Government celebrates ESA's 40th birthday by gifting west coast to green sturgeon

October 22, 2013 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

The federal government recently designated virtually the entire West Coast of the United States as critical habitat for a marine species known as the green sturgeon, including 1,421-square miles of coastal marine areas, 897-square miles of estuaries, and hundreds of additional miles of freshwater rivers.  The critical habitat designation encompass ...