News

Our communities are the building blocks of society. Whether neighbors, churches, family, or the family we create from our friends, our communities shape who we are. They also serve as core support systems. It is through these connections that we know what it means to be human. For 25-year-old Austin... Read more

Did a California school district violate the First Amendment when it punished a first grader for writing "Black Lives Mater sic ... any life" on a drawing and giving it to a friend? That question was before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in oral arguments this week. Pacific Legal... Read more

Last week, President Donald Trump announced that his administration would be slapping tariffs on an enormous share of the things Americans buy. Tariffs have a long history in the United States. But the president does not possess the constitutional authority to create tariffs unilaterally. This power is vested solely in... Read more

When property owners apply to the government for building permits, they're often required to pay impact fees: fees meant to cover the strain additional buildings have on public resources like roads, sewers, schools, and parks. There's nothing wrong with properly set impact fees. But some local governments set impact fees... Read more

When you protect property, you protect privacy. That was the message Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys conveyed in one of eight amicus briefs filed last week in support of James Harper in his petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court in his case, Harper v. O'Donnell.... Read more

There's so much interesting stuff happening at the Court that you get not one, but two scoops of SCOTUS this week. In Part I, I'll discuss all of the opinions that were released over the past two weeks. In Part II, we'll recap some of the wild oral arguments. Let's... Read more

Several years ago, an author defended looting in an NPR interview by arguing, "It's just property. It's not actually hurting any people." That justification stayed with me. How many Americans have forgotten that private property is how human beings implement their freedom in the world? Liberty is not just the... Read more

Note: The photo above is of the Sacketts' Idaho property (marked by dotted line), which the EPA claimed was regulable as "navigable water." It's been nearly two years since the Supreme Court ruled for our clients, Chantell and Mike Sackett, in the landmark Clean Water Act case Sackett v. EPA.... Read more

The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Wednesday in the case of FCC v. Consumers' Research, which involves a nondelegation challenge to the Telecommunications Act of 1996. PLF filed an amicus brief in the case—because the nondelegation doctrine, which says Congress cannot delegate its lawmaking responsibilities, is key to PLF's... Read more

The Supreme Court's ghost guns decision in Bondi v. Vanderstok centers on a fundamental question of American law: What happens when federal agencies reinterpret decades-old statutes to expand their own power? The justices considered whether, under the Gun Control Act of 1968, Congress authorized ATF to regulate gun parts kits—often... Read more

On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, President Donald Trump summarily fired two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission. This would be an unremarkable occurrence at the start of a new presidential administration, except Congress restricted the president's ability to fire commissioners to instances of "inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance... Read more

A few years ago, Jennifer Butler unexpectedly became a single mom to two young kids. At that time, she was working only a few hours a week while homeschooling them. But as an independent contractor, she was quickly able to pick up projects and cobble together meaningful work, following a... Read more

This week, the Arizona Court of Appeals closed the loop on the state's recent legislative mandate for de novo review of agency decisions, officially ending substantial-evidence deference to agency-found facts. In doing so, the court followed Pacific Legal Foundation's constitutional avoidance argument presented in our amicus brief and noted that... Read more

A shocking eminent domain scandal is unfolding in Johnston, Rhode Island: Last week, the Town secretly took possession of a family's 31-acre property, only notifying the owners afterward in a letter demanding they "remove all vehicles and other personal belongings from the property immediately" or they'd be served with a... Read more

"She's a big problem" blared a tweet featuring a photograph of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Given the opposition she faced from Democratic senators and the broader left during her confirmation hearings in 2020, one might suspect that the post came from a progressive critic. But the post, which has been... Read more