Articles

For years, Pacific Legal Foundation has been helping to protect individuals from the irrational and abusive expansion of the Clean Water Act (CWA). In far too many cases, the government has claimed violation of the CWA when individuals use their own land in a way that does not pollute federal waterways. Often, the government has … ...

As regular readers know, PLF argued a case in the Supreme Court of the United States last week, U.S. Army Corps v. Hawkes Co., concerning whether property owners can have their day in court when the federal government declares their land subject to federal control. During the oral argument, Justice Kennedy — long-considered the “swing ...

Over at the Cato at Liberty blog, Ilya Shapiro reports on an effort to rein in the EPA’s abuse of property rights under the Clean Water Act.  PLF has long been involved in the fight against the abuse of the Clean Water Act.  Most recently, we challenged the Army Corps of Engineers’ bizarre assertion that … ...

Thanks to Tom Steward for covering Peter and Frankie Smiths’ victory against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in this article on Reason.com.  In the article, Steward also discusses an important case brought by the Institute for Justice’s Minnesota office on behalf of military veteran Ethan Dean against a city regulation that require ...

This Saturday, March 16th, Peter Smith and I will be speaking with radio talk show host Barbara Simpson on KSFO 560 San Francisco at 5:30pm.  For those of you who don’t live in the City by the Bay, you can tune in online.  For more information on the program, you can visit the show’s Facebook page. The Corps’ decision to w ...

In a surprising move, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did an about face in the lawsuit PLF filed on behalf of Santa Fe property owners Peter and Frankie Smith.  As our initial press release, blog post, and video explained, the Smiths ran afoul of the Feds when they cleaned up trash, dead trees and other … ...

Yesterday’s Albuquerque Journal ran an editorial on PLF’s new lawsuit, Smith v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  It begins: To paraphrase, the arroyo to hell is paved with good intentions, illegally dumped garbage, dead trees and underbrush. Just ask Peter and Françoise Smith. They had the audacity to clear debris out of the arroyo on ...

… ...