Articles

The Commerce Clause and trucking companies

June 13, 2013 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Today, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in American Trucking Association v. City of Los Angeles that the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 preempts a provision of a Port of Los Angeles concession agreement with federally regulated trucking companies that requires cargo trucks to place a “placard on each truck with a ...

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Court of Appeal deals a blow to the state’s ban on suction dredge mining

September 25, 2014 | By JONATHAN WOOD

The California Court of Appeal has issued a decision that seriously undermines California’s ban on suction dredge mining. Adopting the argument of our amicus brief, the Court held that a state ban forbidding all commercially beneficial use of a federal mining claim is preempted by federal mining law. Brandon Rinehart has a federal mining clai ...

Articles

California can't arbitrarily ban mining

May 14, 2015 | By JONATHAN WOOD

The California Supreme Court is considering an important case concerning whether a state can frustrate federal law and deprive people of their livelihoods for no good reason. PLF filed this amicus brief in the case, joined by the Western Mining Alliance and Siskiyou County. If you’re a regular reader, you can probably guess which side … ...

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Ted Hadzi-Antich at oral argument in D. C. Circuit

November 11, 2015 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Monday of this week, I argued that EPA’s decision allowing California to enforce its statewide controls over emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides from tractors and other nonroad diesel vehicles should be vacated by the D.C. Circuit.  The federal Clean Air Act preempts all state mobile source emissions standards but provides th ...

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Supreme Court reverses California court on freedom of contract – again

December 14, 2015 | By DEBORAH LA FETRA

Today, the Supreme Court once again upheld the freedom of Californians to contract for arbitration of consumer disputes. In DIRECTV, Inc. v. Imburgia, the Court reviewed a California Court of Appeal decision invalidating a consumer contract that provided that it would be invalidated if “the law of your state” made class-arbitration waiv ...

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Federal supremacy protects miners' rights

July 21, 2016 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

PLF and Western Mining Alliance have filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit case Bohmker v. Oregon. In the brief, we argue that federal mining policy preempts Oregon’s ban on a federally-approved and encouraged mining practice. Part of having a federalist system of government is deciding which level of government gets final say when R ...

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CA Supreme Court invites state to frustrate federal policy

August 22, 2016 | By JONATHAN WOOD

The California Supreme Court has issued its long-awaited decision in People v. Rinehart, concerning the legality of the state’s ban on suction dredge mining. The case concerns an apparent conflict between federal law, which encourages mining on federal lands, and the state’s ban against the only practicable method of mining stream bed c ...

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Weekly litigation report — August 27, 2016

August 27, 2016 | By JAMES BURLING

Victory over the Coastal Commission Unreasonable EPA denial of road permit Property Rights in Washington State Brief filed in Alaskan wetlands case Court asks government to respond in frog case California Supreme Court says no to miners Victory over the Coastal Commission We had this nice Statement of Decision from a California trial court in R ...

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PLF asks Supreme Court to review challenge to California’s mining ban

February 03, 2017 | By JONATHAN WOOD

Nearly two centuries ago, the Supreme Court recognized that the “unavoidable consequence” of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause is that States have “no power … to retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control” federal policies that are otherwise consistent with the Constitution. California, unfortunately, has ...