Articles

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 … ...

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 ...

Ok, that’s a slight overstatement. But not as much of one as you would think. Activist group WildEarth Guardians apparently dreams of a world in which people can be thrown in federal prison if they accidentally hit the wrong rodent scurrying across a dark highway, disturb the wrong insect while building a tree house, or … ...

Squash the wrong bug, go to jail The price of selling your home in Santa Barbara? An illegal warrantless search. Free speech wins one in California legislature! Brief filed in Oklahoma First Amendment right to say who you are case Oral argument in Florida takings case Allies file amicus briefs in support of our bird … ...

Most people have heard of William Blackstone’s principle that it is better that many guilty people escape punishment than that a single innocent person be imprisoned, even if they haven’t heard of Blackstone himself. This ancient value underlies the presumption of innocence in our criminal law and many other cherished protections we pro ...

William Blackstone famously said “it is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer.” Today, the criminal law honors that venerable principle by forbidding anyone from being criminally punished unless they commit an illegal act with a blameworthy state of mind. That’s why mens rea (or guilty mind) is an element ...

PLF supports freedom to work Overcriminalization and environmental law Good decision in California endangered species case Union trespass onto private property Shorelines and the public trust Department of Labor shenanigans challenge Take home liability PLF supports freedom to work Today we filed this brief in Twist Architecture v. Oregon Bd. of Ar ...

Last week, PLF’s motion to intervene was granted in a case threatening to radically expand criminal liability under the Endangered Species Act. As you may recall, we represent several southwestern agricultural organizations who, like pretty much everyone else, face the prospect of imprisonment for innocent mistakes if this case succeeds.  ...

Over at The Daily Caller, I have an editorial discussing how the federal government’s hypocritical decision against prosecuting the EPA officials responsible for the Animas River spill highlights the urgent need to address overcriminalization. The decision, made by prosecutors who wouldn’t hesitate to throw the book at ordinary people, ...