Articles

A postscript to the Utah prairie dog case : federal agency embraces state-led reform

April 13, 2018 | By JONATHAN WOOD

For decades, a federal agency had forbidden people in southwestern Utah from doing things that most of us take for granted in our own communities, like building homes, starting businesses, or protecting their airport, playgrounds, and cemetery from disruption, all ostensibly to protect the Utah prairie dog. Thanks to a lawsuit PLF filed on behalf ...

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The Supreme Court should restore federalism to its rightful place. Utah’s prairie dogs depend on it.

November 06, 2017 | By JONATHAN WOOD

This weekend, Senator Mike Lee of Utah and I had an article in the Wall Street Journal urging the Supreme Court to hear People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. … ...

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PLF asks Supreme Court to restore constitutional limits on federal power

September 26, 2017 | By JONATHAN WOOD

Our Constitution limits the federal government’s powers to those expressly listed in the document. But the government we have today is a far cry from the limited government described by our Founding Fathers. PLF is asking the Supreme Court to restore the Constitution’s limits by rejecting an extreme, limitless interpretation of the Comm ...

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PLF petitions for rehearing in Utah prairie dog case

May 15, 2017 | By JONATHAN WOOD

This morning, we filed a petition for rehearing en banc in People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service—our challenge to the federal government’s constitutional authority to regulate take of the Utah prairie dog. Three years ago, the District Court for the District of Utah ruled the regulation unc ...

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Tenth Circuit overturns Utah prairie dog decision

March 30, 2017 | By JONATHAN WOOD

We got some disappointing news yesterday when the Tenth Circuit overturned the federal district court’s decision that federal regulations prohibiting the take of Utah prairie dogs exceed the federal government’s constitutional powers. As you may not recall, since more than 18 months passed between oral argument and the decision, PLF is ...

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Are states better than the feds at protecting endangered species?

February 03, 2016 | By JONATHAN WOOD

In honor of Groundhog Day, WildEarth Guardians released its annual report card for federal and state management of prairie dogs. Unsurprisingly, the environmental group isn’t too fond of PLF’s victory on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners (PETPO). Yet it’s judgment of the relative quality of federal and ...

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The Commerce Clause isn't a "do-whatever-you-feel-like" power

January 22, 2016 | By JONATHAN WOOD

In an article published today by the Federalist Society’s Engage, I discuss PLF’s constitutional challenge to the Endangered Species Act in the prairie dog case. As you’ll recall, we represented People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners — a group of Utah residents who have suffered for decades under federal regulat ...

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Recording of 10th Circuit argument in Utah prairie dog case

September 30, 2015 | By JONATHAN WOOD

The Endangered Species & Wetlands Report has obtained the recording of the Monday’s oral argument in the Utah prairie dog case. As you’ll recall, this is the constitutional challenge to the federal government’s authority to regulate any activity that affects any living thing under the Commerce Clause. As we argue, the Commerce ...

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Oral argument in PLF’s prairie dog case Sept. 28

September 21, 2015 | By JONATHAN WOOD

Next week, I’ll be arguing People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners’ case against the unconstitutional Utah prairie dog regulation in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado. The argument will be at 9 am mountain time at the Byron White Courthouse at 1823 Stout Street. As you’ll recall, this is the ̷ ...