Articles

Author: Brian T. Hodges Dateline 1992. In a story entitled, "Local Land-Use Issues Attract Law Group," the Seattle Post Intelligencer reported that Pacific Legal Foundation was opening a regional office in the Pacific Northwest "to wage court battles over property rights and environmental regulations." The article concluded by q ...

Authors: Daniel Himebaugh & Taylor Wilson A few months ago, this blog called attention to Seattle's "exceptional tree" ordinance.  We predicted that it was only a matter of time before a hapless Seattle homeowner was prosecuted for tampering with trees that the city considers special, even if those trees grew on private prop ...

Author: Daniel Himebaugh The City of Seattle is planning to change its rules to allow homeowners to remove trees from their yards without having to get a permit, according to NWCN.com.  Depending on how the final rules are written, this could be an improvement over the current rules that we blogged about here and here.  … ...

Author: Daniel Himebaugh The City of Seattle is taking some concrete steps toward eliminating its "exceptional tree ordinance," reports The Seattle Times.  New proposed rules that would repeal retention standards for large trees and do away with permitting for tree removal have been released for public comment, and will soon be pres ...

Author: Daniel Himebaugh The Seattle Times reports that the City of Seattle's forthcoming Shoreline Master Program could spell the end of house barges in the city's marinas.  House barges are vessels that people use as residences.  They are also known as "liveaboards."  Think of the floating home from Sleepless i ...

Today, the Sixth Circuit, sitting en banc, will be hearing the case of Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action v. Regents of the University of Michigan. This case challenges the constitutionality of Proposal 2, a statewide constitutional amendment that banned the use of race by Michigan state and local governments.  You can read PLF’s brief h ...

The Sixth Circuit, sitting en banc, declared Proposal 2 unconstituional under the Equal Protection Clause today. Proposal 2 is Michigan’s landmark constitutional amendment that banned racial preferences and discrimination by state and local government. Think about that for a second — a constitutional amendment banning discrimination is ...

As we reported on Thursday, the Sixth Circuit declared Michigan’s Proposal 2 unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause.  The decision has been roundly condemned throughout the legal community.  For good reason.  The decision defies both logic and common sense by holding that Proposal 2 — a state constitutional amendment proh ...

Last Friday I explained the Sixth Circuit’s embarrassing decision to strike down Michigan’s Proposal 2.  President of the National Association of Scholars (and longtime PLF friend) Peter Wood, has been assembling similar reactions to the Sixth Circuit’s decision.  For example, here is what Ward Connerly had to say: There is no ...