Articles

PLF asks Ninth Circuit to invalidate delta smelt restrictions

January 25, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brandon Middleton Today, Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys will file an appeal to the Ninth Circuit, asking the court to invalidate the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's delta smelt water cutbacks as unconstitutional. The appeal will be filed not only on behalf of PLF's farming clients (Stewart & Jasper Orchards, Arroyo Farms, a ...

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The ramifications of the Obama administration's man-made California drought

January 25, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brandon Middleton Big Government's John Loudon has a great article on why it's important for the entire country to wake up and realize that the Obama administration is putting fish before people. Loudon explains that the ramifications of cutting off water to the San Joaquin Valley go far beyond California: As for the rest … ...

Articles

The Constitution is (fortunately) a stubborn document

January 25, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brandon Middleton The Natural Resource Defense Council's Barry Nelson doesn't like what Pacific Legal Foundation is doing when it comes to California's water. (See his NRDC Switchboard blog post, "Facts are stubborn things"). According to Nelson, PLF and others have been "particularly careful to ignore facts that ...

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Tide turns for victims of regulatory drought : government errors continue to mount; PLF appeals delta smelt regulations to 9th Circuit

May 27, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brandon Middleton The last couple of weeks has seen good news for Californians who have lost water and jobs as a result of the Endangered Species Act. But leave it to environmental groups to express dismay over Judge Wanger's decision to give humans a voice in the regulatory process: "The last time around, he … ...

Articles

PLF files Ninth Circuit delta smelt brief

July 16, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brandon Middleton Yesterday we filed our opening brief in the Ninth Circuit delta smelt Commerce Clause appeal, arguing that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to restrict water deliveries on behalf of the delta smelt is unconstitutional.  For a copy of the brief, go here. … ...

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Briefing completed in PLF's Ninth Circuit challenge to delta smelt water cutbacks

November 10, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Brandon Middleton Today we filed our reply brief in Stewart & Jasper Orchards v. Salazar.  We represent a small group of almond and pistachio growers who have been deprived of critical water deliveries for the purported benefit of the delta smelt, a species of fish here in California.  PLF contends in this case that th ...

Articles

PLF joins North Carolina beach battles

July 24, 2012 | By J. DAVID BREEMER

Texas isn’t the only state  that has been attempting to convert private beachfront land into public property through the use of novel legal theories. North Carolina and its political subdivisions have also moved in the same, unfortunate direction.  And once again, PLF is going to court on behalf of owners of beachfront property to try R ...

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Happy Constitution Day!

September 17, 2012 | By JENNIFER THOMPSON

Today we celebrate the 225th anniversary of the signing of our federal Constitution.  On September 17, 1787, after several months of meetings and debates in Philadelphia, 39 delegates to the Federal Convention signed the document which the states subsequently ratified.  This momentous occasion ushered in a new era and a new brand of constitutiona ...

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Supreme Court justices issue call to rein in judicial deference to executive agencies

March 10, 2015 | By TONY FRANCOIS

Yesterday the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association, which holds that an executive agency is not required to provide public notice or consider comments when it changes a formal interpretation of its own regulations. The unanimous decision is rather uneventful, despite the fact that it limits publi ...