Courting Liberty

PLF's Harold Johnson hosts a conversation with PLF attorney Larry Salzman and his client Arty Vogt about an economic liberty case that is limiting Arty's moving business in West Virginia. Because of an old certificate of need law in the state a competition moving company located more than 100 miles away was allowed to veto his certificate of need, denying Arty's company to make moves for his loyal customer base within the state of West Virginia.

The Army Corps of Engineers is illegally imposing its control over tens of millions of acres in Alaska by impermissibly labeling permafrost as “wetlands” subject to federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. This classification violates the Corps’ own 1987 wetlands delineation manual, which Congress has ordered the agency to follow until such time as a new nationwide manual is adopted, and which does not recognize permafrost as jurisdictional wetlands.

Harold Johnson and Joshua Thompson are joined by PLF client La'Shieka White to discuss her suit over race-based transfer and enrollment restrictions for St. Louis-area public schools that will block her son from attending the school of his choice next year — simply because he is black. Until recently, Mrs. White lived in the City of St. Louis, where her nine-year-old son, Edmund, is a third-grader at Gateway Science Academy, a charter school in south St. Louis. The family has now moved to Maryland Heights, Missouri, in St. Louis County, but they would like to continue enrolling Edmund in Gateway, where he has been excelling since kindergarten. However, they are barred from doing so in the coming school year, because he would have to transfer into Gateway from their new residence in the County — and the St. Louis Transfer Program would not allow him to do so, because he is African-American. The St. Louis Student Transfer program allows only non-black students living in the County to transfer to public schools in the City.

Harold Johnson and Jonathan Wood revisit PLF’s defense of Andy Johnson, who felt the weight of the EPA’s overreach when he built an environmentally beneficial stock pond on his property in Wyoming. In 2012, Wyoming farmer Andy Johnson dammed a stream on his private property, creating a stock pond to provide water to his livestock. The pond was constructed to maximize its incidental environmental benefits, including creating habitat for fish, wildlife, and migratory birds, establishing wetlands, and cleaning the water that passes through the pond. Nevertheless, in January, 2014, the EPA issued a compliance order against him, claiming that the deposit of dredge and fill materials to create the dam violates the CWA, and threatening him with fines of $37,500 per day that he doesn’t do what EPA demands.

It shouldn’t require a team of lawyers, tens of thousands of dollars in legal expense, and years of fighting just to replace an aging mobile home within a mobile home park. But that’s the reality in California when your mobile home replacement requires a permit from the state’s Coastal Commission. Join PLF Director of Communications Harold Johnson as he digs into what in the world is going on at the coast of Capistrano Shores with PLF Attorney Larry Salzman and PLF client Eric Wills, as Mr. Wills gives an impassioned account as to what the Coastal Commission is doing to him, his family, and many more residents in Capistrano Shores.

On this special episode of Courting Liberty, PLF Director of Litigation Jim Burling recounts PLF's recent visit to Washington D.C. using audio clips from the Hawkes oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court with attorneys Reed Hopper, Mark Miller and PLF President and CEO Rob Rivett. Through a “Jurisdictional Determination,” the Army Corps of Engineers designated property owned by The Hawkes Co., Inc., Pierce Investment Company, and LPF Properties, in Minnesota, as “wetlands” over which the Corps has regulatory authority. On appeal, the threshold issue is whether property owners have the legal right to bring a court challenge to such a regulatory finding.

PLF Director of Communications Harold Johnson interviews PLF Attorney Ethan Blevins about the current state of Bonesteel v. City of Seattle, where PLF represents a number of Seattle residents in challenging the city’s food waste ordinance, designed to stop citizens from throwing out “significant amounts” of food waste and/or compostable paper.

Live from PLF's D.C. Center, PLF D.C. Executive Director Todd Gaziano moderates a round table discussion on Pacific Legal Foundation's opening argument in the Supreme Court for Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes. Joining Todd are PLF Attorneys for the case, Mark Miller and Reed Hopper, PLF President and CEO Rob Rivett, Local Counsel Nancy Burke, and client Kevin Pierce.

Harold Johnson speaks with PLF Attorney Damien Schiff about the California Coastal Commission’s board vote to dismiss Executive Director Charles Lester. Schiff also gives a general update on the Coastal Commissions activities as it relates to property rights and PLF.

Federal regulators are imposing regulations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that are contrary to the will of Congress and the strict letter of the law. Our Courting Liberty podcast details a new PLF petition that takes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to task for a regulation that unlawfully extends the ESA’s broad “take” prohibition to all threatened species, contrary to clear congressional intent, the statute’s express language, and common sense. As a consequence, ordinary citizens and small businesses face massive potential fines and jail time for activities that Congress deemed legal. Join host Harold Johnson and PLF Staff Attorney Jonathan Wood for this podcast that describes a petition that seeks repeal of a regulation that, for 40 years, has been illegally applying the ESA’s take prohibition to threatened species. PLF’s petition was filed on behalf of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).

PLF Director of Communications Harold Johnson interviews PLF attorneys Reed Hopper and Mark Miller about Hawkes Co., Inc., et al. v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, a case being appealed at the U.S. Supreme Court at the end of March. PLF is representing Hawkes Co., a business who wants to harvest peat from it's property in northwestern Minnesota. The United States Army Corps of Engineers claims the usage of the property falls under the Clean Water Act and the owners of Hawkes Co. would have to get costly permits, that would be detrimental to their business.

PLF Attorneys Wencong Fa and Anthony François discuss PLF's suit against the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for failing to meet a five year status review of every species listed as either endangered or threatened under the California Endangered Species Act. Without the review property rights could remain in jeopardy for California citizens and species that are in need of more protections, could be going without.