Articles

A new PLF is born

September 18, 2017 | By STEVEN D. ANDERSON

One year ago we reported on PLF's wholesale review of our operations as we prepare for our 50th anniversary and beyond, based on the realization that to vindicate fully the principles of individual liberty, we couldn't simply rely on the ways of the past. Sword&Scales is among the first outward examples of our future. As you'll notice, our v ...

Articles

The defense of liberty requires an engaged judiciary

June 07, 2018 | By LARRY SALZMAN

Prior to the Fourteenth Amendment, the Bill of Rights checked only the abuses of individual rights by the federal government, and even after the Civil War there were few federal restraints on state powers. Individuals could look only to state courts and their constitutions to check abuses by state legislatures. The Fourteenth Amendment changed ...

Articles

Property rights aren’t second-class rights

July 05, 2018 | By CHRISTINA MARTIN

PLF client Rose Knick never expected to make constitutional history. If she had her way, she would live quietly, raising horses and other livestock on her 90-acre farm in rural Pennsylvania. But when the local government decided to open up her private property to the public and threaten her with fines if she resisted, Rose took a stand. This fa ...

Articles

The struggle for liberty and justice must be renewed for each generation

July 05, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

The struggle for liberty is old, yet it must be continually renewed—because the struggle is never-ending. As the world moves slowly, fitfully, and yet inexorably toward a state of increased liberty, we must always recall Ronald Reagan's words: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." Different generations have had t ...

Articles

Raising a glass to freedom of speech

July 06, 2018 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

Chef Geoff Tracy is an entrepreneur, cookbook author, and owner of three successful restaurants in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. In two of those restaurants—those located in Maryland and Washington, DC—Chef Geoff can freely tell customers about his various happy hour promotions. But at his Virginia location, such truthful advertising i ...

Articles

Marking 150 years of the Fourteenth Amendment

July 08, 2018 | By JONATHAN WOOD

This year, we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Fourteenth Amendment's adoption. That amendment fulfilled the Declaration of Independence's promise of inalienable individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and government dedicated to the protection of those rights. It did so by guaranteeing our rights against the states, ...