Articles

License to kill competition

June 04, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Lana Harfoush In PLF’s free enterprise litigation, we are frequently confronted by courts that are hesitant to strike down government licensing laws. Courts recognize that government licensing schemes are often designed to promote public health and safety, and so they defer to the government’s judgment. For example, more p ...

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Rescuing the right to earn a living in Missouri

January 17, 2012 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

Today we filed this motion in the case of St. Louis entrepreneur Michael Munie, asking the court to strike down a Missouri state law that essentially forbids anyone from going into the moving business without first getting permission from the existing moving companies. To be more precise, it’s illegal to run a moving company without getting ...

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Economic liberty for apprenticeship programs

January 25, 2012 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

Today the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against the state of California for enforcing an anti-competitive law regulating apprenticeship programs. Apprenticeship is a key component of the state’s economy, and the route to self-sufficiency for many hardworking Californians, who learn marketable skills and find jobs through apprentice ...

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Fourth Circuit reaffirms that the right to earn a living is protected by the Constitution

February 01, 2012 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

In McBurney v. Young, issued today, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a plaintiff’s argument that a Virginia law interfered with his right to engage in his trade, but reaffirmed that this right is protected by the Privileges And Immunities Clause of Article IV (precursor to the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities ...

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Licensing for…pet groomers?

February 06, 2012 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

The Reason Foundation’s Adam Summers notes the latest bad idea to hit California: a bill to impose licensing laws on pet groomers. The bill would establish minimum age and education requirements for potential licensees (18 years old and at least a 10th grade education), impose licensing fees, and charge the licensing board with developing sta ...

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No working–by order of the Licensing Board

February 06, 2012 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

Even while PLF challenges the constitutionality of Missouri’s anti-competitive licensing law for movers, the state is considering adopting still more restrictions on the right to earn a living. … ...

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PLF’s Timothy Sandefur to speak in Medford, Ore., Friday evening

February 15, 2012 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

I’ll be speaking to the Americans for Prosperity chapter in Medford on Friday, at 6:30 at the Medford library. I’ll talk about private property, the right to earn a living, and anything else that might come up. All are welcome! … ...

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Is it lawful to own a pig in Michigan?

April 13, 2012 | By JENNIFER THOMPSON

It depends what the pig looks like.  The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, a state administrative agency, has decided that certain breeds of swine must be eradicated in order to “stop the spread of feral swine and the disease risk they pose to humans, domestic pigs, and wildlife.”  The problem is that, rather than focus ̷ ...

Articles

How Judges Brown and Sentelle actually hurt property owners and entrepreneurs

April 23, 2012 | By TIMOTHY SANDEFUR

Judges Janice Brown and David Sentelle drew attention in the blogosphere last week for their rip-roaring opinion in Hettinga v. United States. The judges were right that courts have abandoned their constitutional duty to protect the rights of property owners and entrepreneurs, by imposing the so-called “rational basis” test under which ...