Articles

This week, Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys filed a Petition for Certiorari asking the United States Supreme Court to review the case of Nies v. Town of Emerald Isle, discussed more here.  The Petition presents the important question of “whether the Takings Clause permits a state to statutorily redefine an entire coastline of privately ow ...

The dry beach takings case of Nies v.Town of Emerald Isle, described more fully here, continues to generate debate in North Carolina. Recently, the Manager of Defendant Town of Emerald Isle published an article criticizing the Nies’ s view of the case. The following PLF rebuttal to the Town Manager’s column was published Sunday, Augu ...

In 2013, on the heels of the Supreme Court’s Shelby County decision that ended federal preclearance of voting laws, North Carolina enacted an omnibus election reform bill that set off a partisan firestorm in the state and on editorial pages nationwide. On top of the much-discussed voter identification requirement, the law repealed same-day re ...

The North Carolina Supreme Court handed down a victory for property rights this morning in a case Pacific Legal Foundation tracked closely for several years. The facts of the case are straightforward, as we explained in our amicus brief* supporting  the property owners: The North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) created “trans ...

Today, the North Carolina Supreme Court agreed to review the case of Nies v. Town of Emerald Isle, a beach property rights dispute pitting a couple’s right to limit access to their beachfront land against a local government’s desire to open it up the land to public and town driving. The case arises from Emerald Isle, a barrier islan ...

The Center for Biological Diversity is threatening to sue the Fish & Wildlife Service for not imposing ruinous and unnecessary restrictions on private property owners throughout 37 states to protect the Northern long-eared bat. It contends that heavy-handed “take” regulations should be imposed despite the fact that the species is th ...

In 2013, North Carolina’s General Assembly held extensive hearings on legislation designed to equalize educational opportunities for low-income students.  The Opportunity Scholarship Program, would provide scholarships from the State to attend any private school, including those operated by religious organizations. Legislators were shocked a ...

On December 9, 2015, PLF attorneys asked the North Carolina Supreme Court to review the Court of Appeals’  published decision in Nies v. Town of Emerald Isle. In that case, described more fully here, the Court of Appeals concluded, for the first time in state history, that the public and government may enter and occupy … ...

The Pacific Legal Foundation and the Civitas Institute Center for Law and Freedom (CLF)* together filed an amicus brief in an important takings case in the North Carolina Supreme Court today. The facts of the case are straightforward, as we explain in our brief: The North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) created “transportation co ...