Articles

Edward Poitevent’s victory at Supreme Court is a win for property rights and government accountability

July 20, 2019 | By MARK MILLER

For years, Edward Poitevent and his family were forced to fight for their land. But now, the Pointevant’s are winners in their long-running national battle over property rights and the reach of the Endangered Species Act. Edward’s case, Weyerhaeuser v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was the infamous “phantom frog” case. It ...

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PLF asks the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit Penn Central

December 05, 2018 | By BRIAN HODGES

Forty years ago, in Penn Central Transp.  Co. v. City of New York (1978), the U.S. Supreme Court explained that regulatory takings cases are “essentially ad hoc, factual inquiries” wherein courts are instructed to consider a number of case specific factors, including “the economic impact of the regulation on the claimant;” ...

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Supreme Court hears oral argument in excessive fines case

November 28, 2018 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

Today the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Timbs v.  Indiana, a case brought by our friends at Institute for Justice.  In Timbs, the Supreme Court will decide whether the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause is incorporated against the states. In other words, the court will decide whether the Eighth Amendment prevents states (and n ...

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Rose Knick’s historic Constitutional case to be reargued

November 07, 2018 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

Rose Knick thought the pinnacle of her case would be on October 3, 2018, when eight Supreme Court justices spent an hour hearing legal arguments arising from her attempt to hold Scott Township accountable for taking her property without paying for it. But now Rose will do something few people who make it to the … ...

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PLF urges SCOTUS review of Hurricane Katrina flooding case

October 25, 2018 | By JEREMY TALCOTT

By any measure, Hurricane Katrina was a disastrous natural catastrophe. But for many landowners in St. Bernard Parish, what might have been a damaging but survivable storm was transformed into total devastation by a series of government actions and omissions stretching back decades. Last week, we filed this amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to ...

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Senators indict themselves during first day of Kavanaugh confirmation scrum

September 04, 2018 | By TONY FRANCOIS

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee began its confirmation hearing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. And while most would rightly expect it to be excessively partisan, the first hour was a food fight. Chairman Grassley could not get through two sentences of his prepared opening remarks before nearly every Democrat ...

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Cato and NFIB urge the Supreme Court to review Florida property rights decision

July 27, 2018 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

This week, our friends at the Cato Institute and NFIB Small Business Legal Center filed an excellent friend-of-the-court-brief supporting our clients in Pacetta, LLC v. Town of Ponce Inlet.  The case arose after Simone and Lyder Johnson set out to build their dream home in Ponce Inlet, Florida.  After the Town encouraged them to plan … ...

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Kelo revisited

July 11, 2018 | By BRIAN HODGES

The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment promises that the government will not take private property unless it is for a valid public use and the owner is fully compensated. And yet, we all know that Kelo v. City of New London, Conn. (2005) allowed a Connecticut city to condemn a middle class neighborhood for private … ...

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PLF asks the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that there is no “legislative exception” to the unconstitutional conditions doctrine

July 09, 2018 | By BRIAN HODGES

It seems that some governments and courts prefer to treat Supreme Court precedent as an option, rather than a requirement. The Supreme Court has ruled—twice—that it’s unconstitutional for government to charge permitting fees when the fees have nothing to do with the reason for the permit. Yet some courts continue to ignore the Constitutio ...