Articles
Supreme Court decision is an important victory for school choice
Author: Joshua Thompson As initially blogged about on Monday, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn this week. And, upon closer inspection, my initial hesitation to claim a full victory for school choice proponents was not warranted. By narrowing the availability of taxpaye ...
Articles
Sacketts : last chance for justice
Author: Damien Schiff This morning, the United States Supreme Court issued an order agreeing to take up PLF’s case representing Mike and Chantell Sackett. The question of whether the EPA can assert federal land use control over any wet area in this country, and deny a landowner a fair and effective means of challenging the agency’ ...
Articles
Washington Supreme Court denies request to review the constitutionality of big buffers
Author: Brian T. Hodges Earlier today, Washington’s Supreme Court denied PLF’s petition raising a facial challenge to the constitutionality of big, mandatory buffers in the case, Kitsap Alliance for Property Owners v. Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board. This case arises from Kitsap County’s adoption of a c ...
Articles
Victories and unanswered questions in buffer appeal
Author: Brian T. Hodges Earlier today, the Kitsap Sun published an op-ed that I co-authored with Jackie Rossworn, executive director of Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners. The op-ed highlights several property rights victories and important issues that remain unresolved after Washington’s Supreme Court declined to review the Kitsap Cou ...
Articles
Growth management ruling exposes Washington’s east/west divide
Author: Brian T. Hodges Washington’s Growth Management Act (GMA) envisions a scheme where every city and county, in every nook and cranny of the state, adopts land use regulations responsive to a host of general societal interests (e.g, affordable housing, preserving property rights, protecting rural lands from urban development, prote ...
Articles
Washington Supreme Court gives local land use planning a “benevolent gesture”
Author: Brian T. Hodges Yesterday, Washington’s Supreme Court issued a short decision in Citizens for Rational Shoreline Planning v. Whatcom County, ruling that the State Department of Ecology is the entity ultimately responsible if a local government’s shoreline master program violates the law. A simple proposition that brings w ...
Articles
It did not begin with the Sacketts . . . but we hope it will end with them
Author: Anne Hayes Naturally, PLF is extremely pleased that the United States Supreme Court granted the petition for writ of certiorari in the Sacketts' case against the EPA. However, we should point out that the Sacketts' situation, while a devastating development to them, is not new under the sun. The EPA has been abusing la ...
Articles
Feds file opposition to PLF's request for Supreme Court review of delta smelt case
Author: Brandon Middleton On Friday, September 23, the federal government filed this opposition to PLF's petition for writ of certiorari in Stewart & Jasper Orchards v. Salazar. The Natural Resource Defense Council's opposition to PLF's petition was filed in July. PLF's petition for writ of certiorari was filed in June.&# ...
Articles
Briefing completed in PLF's petition for Supreme Court review of delta smelt regs
Author: Brandon Middleton On Friday, September 30, PLF filed this reply to the federal government's and NRDC's opposition to PLF's request for the U.S. Supreme Court's review of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's delta smelt regulations. The Supreme Court will likely hold a conference on the case and decide whether to review i ...