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Weekly litigation report — December 22, 2018

December 22, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

caption id="" align="alignright" width="567" Is this navigable? An exposed permafrost layer -- considered to be a "water of the United States" by the Corps of Engineers. Permafrost underlies roughly 85% of Alaska's 663,300 square miles./caption PLF asks Supreme Court to hear Alaska permafrost case This week, PLF filed a petition asking the ...

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Weekly litigation report — Property rights, school choice, free speech, and more

December 15, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

Public land stewards reiterate that the president can reduce the size of national monuments Briefing is now complete on the motion to dismiss Utah Diné Bikéyah v. Trump, a case that challenges the president's ability to reduce the size of national monuments. PLF represents individuals and non-profit organizations that recreate, work, and volun ...

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Weekly litigation report — Another Supreme Court Win!

December 01, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

Another PLF win in the Supreme Court This week, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously (8–0 with Justice Kavanaugh not participating) in favor of PLF client Edward Poitevent and his family in Weyerhaeuser v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. In a factual sense, the decision concerns whether the endangered dusky gopher frog's "critical habitat" ...

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Weekly litigation report : Navigable wetlands, water rights, and more

November 10, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

PLF asks Supreme Court to take up wetlands enforcement case This Wednesday we filed a cert. petition in the Supreme Court in Robertson v. United States. Joe Robertson is appealing his Clean Water Act conviction for digging water supply ponds to protect his property from forest fires. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claimed that a foot- ...

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Weekly litigation update — October 27, 2018

October 27, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

This road to the Supreme Court takes PLF through the U-P caption id="" align="alignnone" width="538" The new route would cut trip distances in half, keep industrial mining trucks out of towns and traffic, and save 450,000 gallons of fuel a year. But the EPA obstructs./caption This week Pacific Legal Foundation filed its latest Petition for Wr ...

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Weekly litigation update — September 22, 2018

September 21, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

Ninth Circuit holds that permafrost is a navigable water Today the Ninth Circuit in this opinion ruled against our clients in Tin Cup LLC v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Tin Cup, a family owned pipe fabrication business in North Pole, Alaska, sought to expand and relocate its business. The Army Corps of Engineers claimed jurisdiction over the ...

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Weekly litigation update — July 28, 2016

July 28, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

Appeal filed to rescue vaping lawsuit from being sucked into the Swamp When PLF first developed its litigation strategy to challenge unconstitutionally promulgated rules, a core component of that strategy was filing three simultaneous lawsuits in three district courts challenging the FDA's vaping regulation. But the federal government would pref ...

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Weekly litigation report — June 2, 2018

June 02, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

Happiness is a burger on a warm bun, a cold draft beer and freedom of speech Courts shouldn't look the other way when federal agencies seize power Congress never gave them Common sense prevails in Regulatory Flexibility Act case California agency's "sky-is-falling" argument unsupported by the facts On the road to the Supreme Court ...

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Weekly litigation report — May 5, 2018

May 05, 2018 | By JAMES BURLING

Another lawsuit to challenge Seattle's war on landlords This week, we sued to challenge Seattle's Fair Chance Housing Ordinance on behalf of several landlords and the Rental Housing Association of Washington in Yim v. City of Seattle. The Fair Chance Housing Ordinance forbids landlords from asking for a criminal background check or denying someo ...