Bureaucrats can’t rewrite the law just because they don’t like it
Jack LaPant thought that he had properly navigated all the necessary regulations under the federal Clean Water Act when he plowed his northern California farmland in 2011 to grow wheat. Multiple agencies said he did not need a permit; but in 2016, government bureaucrats sued Jack for not obtaining a permit, even though the Clean […]
California’s “woman quota” targeted in new lawsuit | Fighting California’s discriminatory law
A lawsuit filed today challenges California’s first-in-the-nation requirement that publicly traded companies have a certain number of women on their boards of directors. “This law puts equal numbers above equal treatment,” said Anastasia Boden, a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “This law is built on the condescending belief that women aren’t capable of getting […]
Family challenges government’s arbitrary, unlawful permit conditions
In 2018, the Wall family wanted to build a swimming pool next to their home on their property in Hollister Ranch, California. Like all land owners within the 14,500-acre, century-old working cattle ranch, the Walls needed a permit. Santa Barbara County approved the project; however, the California Coastal Commission denied the permit. The Commission said […]
The First Amendment protects the emoji house and the ‘Starry Night’ house
By JEREMY TALCOTT A Manhattan Beach duplex with a unique paint job has been mired in controversy. A few months ago, Manhattan Beach resident Kathryn Kidd hired a local artist named Z the Art to paint her house in a bright pink color with a pair of cheeky emoji faces. While Kidd enjoys the house, her neighbors […]
A Rancher’s property rights and the right to conserve
By TONY FRANCOIS The Clean Water Act (CWA) is supposed to protect and enhance our nation’s waters. But too often, government bureaucrats use that broad mandate to stomp on private landowners’ property rights—even when those private landowners are trying to protect the land themselves. In a bitter twist, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is using the […]
Why this Oakland military family is suing the city
By MERIEM L. HUBBARD For years, Sharon Ballinger, an Air Force nurse, and Lyndsey Ballinger, a Squadron Commander in the California Air National Guard, have lived in Oakland with their two small children. And when they were temporarily transferred to Washington, D.C., they rented their house out on a month-to-month basis, always intending to […]
Reform the Endangered Species Act by respecting property rights
By JONATHAN WOOD Update: On August 12, 2019, as a result of PLF petitions, the Department of the Interior announced changes that will improve the way the Endangered Species Act is applied — changes that will benefit property owners and species. Interior’s new rules terminate an illegal and counterproductive rule that complicated the recovery of […]
The Founding Fathers of our limited government: Thomas Jefferson and the freedom of speech
By TIMOTHY SNOWBALL This is the fifth in a five-part series dedicated to exploring the lives, ideas, and contributions of the five individuals most directly responsible for the founding of the United States. Without the courageous actions of James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson, America would not be the country that it is today. […]
Justice for Rose: Landmark Supreme Court decision opens federal courts to property rights claims
By CHRISTINA MARTIN Today, the Supreme Court gave property owners everywhere a major victory, overturning a 34-year precedent that has robbed countless individuals of their property rights. And you have an unassuming woman in rural Pennsylvania to thank. In a 5-4 opinion on written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Justices held that the government violates the Constitution […]
Rising from the ashes: When the Camp Fire hit Paradise, California
Editor’s Note this is republished from Pacific Legal Foundation spotlighting one of their own, Eileen Durta, whose family was affected by the last year’s devastating Camp Fire. It relates what it means when a community, impacted by a destructive event, pulls together. Ventura County has certainly experienced its share of tragedy and like Paradise we […]
