2016 has seen a cavalcade of Pacific Legal Foundation victories for liberty

The past year has seen a nationwide parade of legal victories by Pacific Legal Foundation, cialis and this week’s installment of the PLF Courting Liberty podcast focuses on a few of the outstanding highlights, capped by our latest precedent-setting triumphs at the Supreme Court of the United States.

“Each and every American is more secure in some of our most fundamental freedoms because of PLF’s accomplishments in 2016,” said Director of Litigation James Burling, who moderates the podcast released today.  “Our achievements also built a reservoir of hope for the future, by laying groundwork for more and broader victories in the years ahead.

“Every area of PLF’s mission is represented on our honor roll of 2016 successes, most notably our signature cause — the defense of property rights as the freedom that underlies every other liberty,” Burling continued.  “And we planted the flag of victory at every level of the judiciary — including the U.S. Supreme Court, where our winning streak in direct-representation litigation now stands at nine straight victories.  That is an unsurpassed record for any legal organization with a broad pro-liberty agenda.  Without question, all the attorneys, staff, and donors who make PLF’s vital work possible can feel a deep sense of satisfaction as this banner year draws to a close.”

Promoting property rights 

At the Supreme Court, winning access to justice for every property owner (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co., Inc. and Kent Recycling Services, LLC. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

Family-owned Hawkes Co., providing peat for golf courses, was blocked from using some of its Minnesota property by a highly questionable federal “wetlands” determination.  The Obama Administration said the family couldn’t appeal to the courts.  But PLF won a U.S. Supreme Court victory that emphatically said otherwise.  The justices unanimously held that if bureaucrats claim they have jurisdiction over your land as “wetlands,” you have a right to seek judicial review.

After issuing that precedent-setting ruling in PLF’s Hawkes case, the court turned to PLF’s Kent Recycling case, which also involved property owners seeking the right to appeal a federal wetlands determination.  The justices vacated an appeals court ruling that held against PLF’s clients, and directed the appellate justices to decide the case the right way.

With these two High Court victories, PLF has firmly established that property owners must have access to justice, and federal wetlands bureaucrats are not above the law.

Rescuing coastal homeowners’ rights from regulatory erosion (Capistrano Shores Property, LLC v. California Coastal Commission)

When San Clemente homeowner Eric Wills and his family applied for a permit to replace their aging mobile home with a nearly identical one, the California Coastal Commission said the family would have to agree not to maintain or repair the seawall that protects their property.

On behalf of the Willses, PLF won a state trial court ruling that set aside the commission’s unjust anti-seawall condition.  The ruling has the effect of buttressing  property rights up and down the California coast, by highlighting that property owners have the legal right to protect their homes from natural hazards, and that land use regulators may not leverage their power to unlawfully erode property owners’ liberties.

Battling for balance and common sense in environmental regulations

Beating back a bullying EPA assault on a small landowner (Johnson v. EPA)

Tens of millions of dollars in fines.  That was the terrifying prospect facing Wyoming welder Andy Johnson and his family, when the Environmental Protection Agency took exception to the sparkling stock pond that they constructed on their small ranch property.  Even though Andy received all needed state and local permits for the pond, and it is an environmental jewel providing wildlife habitat and water purification, EPA was miffed that Andy hadn’t asked federal permission to build it.  Never mind that stock ponds are explicitly exempt from EPA jurisdiction! 

Andy spent months desperately trying to reason with these bullies.  Finally, determined not to cave to what Investor’s Business Daily called “federal thuggery,” he turned to PLF for help.  We delivered.  We sued — and EPA folded, signing a settlement in which the stock pond stays, the fines go away, and the feds agree to get out of the Johnsons’ lives.  All Andy had to do is plant a few willows and temporarily fence off part of the pond.  “Thank you PLF!” Andy said.  “The next family that finds itself facing ominous threats from EPA can take heart in knowing that if, like us, you stand up to them, they may very well back down.”

Forcing species regulators to abide by sound science (New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association v. Jewell)

Time and again, PLF has had to go to court to force federal environmental officials to follow their own specialists’ findings and recognize when protected species have recovered and no longer need intrusive bureaucratic protection.  Our latest success in prodding regulators to face up to scientific reality came earlier this month, when the feds finally accepted the good news about the black-capped vireo, a small songbird in Texas and Oklahoma.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the bird can be removed from Endangered Species Act coverage — a decade after the agency’s own scientists first called for delisting.  This long-delayed announcement was prodded by years of continuous legal action by PLF attorneys on behalf of farm and ranch organizations throughout the Southwest.  In short, this is a victory for responsible regulations, property rights, and the rule of law — but one that would not have happened without PLF’s dogged commitment to forcing bureaucrats to do their job.

Upholding individual rights

Safeguarding homeowners’ privacy rights (Bonesteel v. Seattle)

In order to enforce their new recycling policy, city officials in Seattle decided to launch a pervasive spying program to monitor whether residents were throwing food or compostable waste paper in the trash.  Garbage collectors were tasked to perform “visual inspection” of peoples’ trash, and to report back to the city whenever they found recyclables making up more than 10 percent of someone’s garbage.  “Shame tags” on offenders’ garbage cans — and, eventually, fines — were part of the projected enforcement agenda.

A number of concerned residents were supportive of recycling — but strongly opposed to the scheme of government snooping.  They asked PLF for assistance, and we launched a lawsuit based on state constitutional protections for people’s privacy.

We won a resounding victory when a superior court judge ordered a halt to the program.  A message was sent to public officials far and near:  Even worthy policy goals must not be pursued by treating protected freedoms as disposable.

Putting the brakes on a free-speech infringement (Cefali v. San Juan Capistrano)

When Michael Cefali parked his late model Volkswagen in front of his San Juan Capistrano home and placed “For Sale” signs in the back window, he hoped to attract potential buyers.  Instead, he attracted the attention of law enforcement officers, who fined him under a law that neither he nor many others were aware of — the city’s ban on “For Sale” signs in parked cars on public streets.

For Michael, besides the hit in the wallet, this restriction imposed a very big practical burden:  If he was forbidden to sell his car in front of his own house, he would have to move it to another city simply to let drivers know it was for sale.

A recent law school graduate, he objected for reasons of principle as well:  The ordinance represents a discriminatory infringement on speech — including commercial speech — in violation of his and other San Juan Capistrano residents’ First Amendment rights.

For help, Michael turned to PLF — in the person of one of his former professors, PLF Principal Attorney Larry Salzman, Supervising attorney with PLF’s litigation clinic program at the Dale E. Fowler School of Law at Chapman University in Orange.  Success ensued:  PLF filed a federal lawsuit that prompted the city to quickly rescind its ordinance, in a widely publicized victory for constitutional free-speech protections.

To learn more about these and other PLF victories for everyone’s freedoms in 2016, visit PLF’s website:  www.pacificlegal.org.

Liberty Bell

About Pacific Legal Foundation
Donor-supported Pacific Legal Foundation is the nation’s leading legal watchdog for limited government, property rights, individual rights, and a balanced approach to environmental regulations.  Since 1973, PLF has served as an important check on government power and used its strategic litigation to push back to restore constitutional limits on the local, state, and federal levels of government.  PLF has achieved nine consecutive victories at the Supreme Court of the United States.  PLF attorneys currently litigate more than 120 cases in more than 30 states, and PLF represents all clients free of charge.

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