PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION MAKING A SUPREME CASE FOR FREEDOM

Pacific Legal Foundation has made its mark as the nations leading freedom fighter by winning important legal precedents in state and federal courts. Because it chooses cases where constitutional rights are at risk, PLF has made repeat appearances before the United States Supreme Court and won six major cases a record of success unmatched by any other public interest legal organization. Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2012) In a unanimous decision, the Court held that property owners have a right to direct, meaningful judicial review if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency effectively seizes control of their property by declaring it to be wetlands. The Court ruled in favor of Mike and Chantell Sackett, of Priest Lake, Idaho, who were told by EPA and by the Ninth Circuit that they could not get direct court review of EPAs claim that their two-thirds of an acre parcel is wetlands and that they must obey a detailed and intrusive EPA compliance order, or be hit with fines of up to $75,000 per day. Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education (2007) Held that school districts that voluntarily adopt student assignment plans that rely on race to determine which schools certain children may attend violate the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution. As amicus, PLF attorneys participated as second chair at oral argument assisting Merediths attorney. Rapanos v. United States (2006) This decision narrowed the scope of federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction, so that landowners who are not close to navigable waters may not be subjected to federal micro managing of their property. Palazzolo v. Rhode Island (2001) This ruling held that government is not relieved from its Fifth Amendment obligation to provide compensation for excessive regulations on private property merely because the property has changed hands since the regulations first took effect. PLF defended landowner Anthony Palazzolo who challenged the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council. Suitum v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (1997) This ruling stopped regulators from demanding that an elderly, wheelchair-bound widow attempt to sell her minuscule transferable development rights in a nonexistent market before being able to seek judicial relief for denial of her right to build a home.

Keller v. State Bar of California (1990) A First Amendment case holding that a trade or professional organization to which professionals are legally bound to belong may not use their mandatory dues to fund ideologically based lobbying. Nollan v. California Coastal Commission (1987) One of the most important property rights decisions in the Supreme Courts history, Nollan outlawed an egregious form of shakedown by land-use regulators; specifically, it said government may not condition the granting of a building permit on the landowner making some payment or surrender of property that has no connection to the impact of the proposed building project. PLF frequently litigates as an amicus curiae or friend of the court. This involves filing a brief and sometimes participating in oral argument in order to apprise the court of how a case will affect people other than the direct parties involved. Just since 2000, PLF has filed dozens of amicus briefs at the United States Supreme Court, adding to its knowledge, experience and respect as Americas preeminent public interest litigator for constitutional rights.