Articles

PLF asks Supreme Court to revive property rights protections

June 22, 2018 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

Yesterday, PLF filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to review a decision that diminishes property rights by throwing unnecessary obstacles to raising Fifth Amendment claims. The story behind this case began many years ago, when Simone and Lyder Johnson set out to build their dream home, along with some other possible residential development, ...

Articles

PLF files its merits brief in the Knick Supreme Court property case

June 18, 2018 | By J. DAVID BREEMER

In late May, PLF attorneys filed this brief on the merits in the case of Knick v. Township of Scott, Pennsylvania, which is currently before the United States Supreme Court. The Knick case is a property rights dispute arising from a Town’s efforts to force Ms. Rose Mary Knick to allow the public to enter and … ...

Articles

Is property a fundamental right?

May 10, 2018 | By BRIAN HODGES

The answer to that question should be simple. After all, the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution protects “life, liberty, or property” without qualification. And, for nearly a century, the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently treated property as a fundamental right, forbidding the government from imposing arbitrary or irrational ...

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Weekly litigation update — April 28, 2018

April 28, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

Markle Interests’ brief filed with High Court in Weyerhaeuser v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service This week we filed our merits brief in the Supreme Court supporting the landowers in Weyerhaeuser Co. v. United States Fish & Wildlife Service. Earlier this year, the Court granted review and we expect to hear soon from the Court … ...

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SCOTUS avoids the administrative elephant in the room

April 26, 2018 | By BRIAN HODGES

Earlier this week, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, upholding by a 7-2 margin the inter partes review process used by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to invalidate already-issued patent claims. At issue was whether this process must be heard by an … ...

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Washington Supreme Court will not hear important property rights case

February 08, 2018 | By BRIAN HODGES

Earlier this week, the Washington State Supreme Court denied review of the very troubling appellate decision in Olympic Stewardship Foundation v. State of Washington Environmental and Land Use Hearings Office, in which PLF submitted an amicus brief. The appellate decision upheld a Jefferson County ordinance that requires all shoreline property own ...

Articles

PLF urges the High Court to clarify the rule for interpreting split decisions

February 01, 2018 | By BRIAN HODGES

The U.S. Supreme Court is deciding some of the most important (and divisive) legal questions with fractured decisions, leaving many to question whether those cases stand for any one legal rule. … ...

Articles

Weekly litigation update — November 18, 2017

November 18, 2017 | By JAMES BURLING

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear PLF’s First Amendment challenge to political apparel ban, PLF presents oral argument on challenge to access regulation in the Ninth Circuit, and since the Feds get to regulate “species” and “subspecies,” shouldn’t we have an understandable definition of “species” and & ...

Articles

Supreme Court accepts review in PLF’s First Amendment case!

November 13, 2017 | By WENCONG FA

The Supreme Court of the United States granted PLF’s petition for certiorari in Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, a First Amendment challenge to a Minnesota law that bans political apparel at the polling place. … ...