1. History

2. Legal areas
    Property rights   Economic liberty   Equality under the law   Freedom of speech and association    Other  

3. Supreme Court cases

4. See Also

5. References

6. External links

Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) is a conservative/libertarian public interest law firm in the United States.^[2] PLF was established for the purpose of defending and promoting individual and economic freedom in the courts.^[2][3] To that end, PLF attorneys litigate, file amicus curiae briefs, and participate in administrative proceedings with the goal of supporting equality under the law, freedom of speech and association, property rights, economic liberty, and separation of powers.

PLF is a non-profit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It does not charge for legal services, but instead is funded by from donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations to provided representation in cases raising policy issues that go beyond the narrow interest of the parties before the court.^[4][5]

History

Incorporated in Sacramento, California, on March 5, 1973, PLF's original staff was composed mainly of individuals who had been a part of then-Governor Ronald Reagan's welfare reform team.^[2] Operating on a proposed budget of $117,000 for the first 10 months of operation, PLF attorneys began litigation activities in June 1973 under the direction of Ronald A. Zumbrun, PLF's first president.^[2] Currently, PLF has a staff of over 25 attorneys based in six offices across the United States.^[6][7]

Legal areas

Property rights

PLF's property rights cases have focused on regulatory takings and over-reaching environmental regulations. The Foundation's attorneys have successfully argued four takings cases at the United States Supreme Court: Nollan v. California Coastal Commission, Suitum v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Palazzolo v. Rhode Island, and Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District.

PLF's environmental law litigation has frequently involved challenges to federal regulation of private property under the Clean Water Act or the Endangered Species Act. For example, PLF attorneys represented a Minnesota property owner who was denied the right to build on his property in Contoski v. Scarlett,^[8] a case that resulted in the removal of the bald eagle from the endangered species list.^[9]

PLF also recently participated in a case before the Supreme Court regarding the EPA’s rules for challenges to its “waters of the United States” designation. In National Association of Manufacturers v. Department of Defense, the Court unanimously ruled that the EPA cannot shelter its “waters of the United States” rule from judicial review by arbitrarily limiting where victims can sue.^[10][11]

Economic liberty

PLF argues that certain licensing laws and similar regulations violate the individual right to earn a living and result in a loss of jobs and a lower standard of living for Americans.^[12] PLF has battled against “Certificate of Need (CON)” laws in multiple states that require new entrants to a job market to receiver a “certificate of need” from the government to which businesses currently engaged in the occupation may object to the competition.^[13] PLF represented several moving companies challenging their state's CON laws.^[14]

Equality under the law

PLF has participated in cases challenging government-sponsored race and sex preferences, both under the federal Constitution's Equal Protection Clause and state constitutional provisions such as California's Proposition 209 and Washington's Iniative 200.^[15] In 2018, PLF filed a number of lawsuits on behalf of boys seeking to compete on high school dance teams.^[16] In South Dakota, the South Dakota High School Activities Association changed their regulations to allow boys to compete in competitive dance following PLF’s lawsuit.^[17] In 2019, PLF, representing a group of parents, filed a federal lawsuit arguing that Connecticut's enrollment standards for its magnet schools are discriminatory. Connecticut caps the enrollment of black and Hispanic students in magnet schools at 75%, while no less than 25% of students can be white or Asian.^[18]

Freedom of speech and association

PLF successfully challenged Minnesota polling place laws that violated voter’s right to free speech in Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky. The Supreme Court held 7-2 in favor of PLF’s client and the Minnesota Voters Alliance finding that the state’s restrictions on clothing worn in the polling place were not reasonable and violated the First Amendment.^[19] PLF was also instrumental in overturning a Virginia law banning the advertising of happy hours, suing on behalf of restaurateurs who could not advertise drink specials in the state in violation of the First Amendment.^[20]

Other

The PLF was lead plaintiff in one of the first known Strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) suits in the U.S., which attempted to obtain the mailing list of the Abalone Alliance to get the group to pay for the police costs of the largest anti-nuclear civil-disobedience act in U.S. history, at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant. The case was rejected multiple times for PLF's lack of standing, and was eventually dismissed altogether.^[21] The PLF stated that it did receive funding from utility companies, but would not disclose whether PG&E, the plant's owner, had contributed.^[22]

Supreme Court cases

PLF has been involved in a number of cases before the United States Supreme Court and state supreme courts. PLF's Supreme Court victories include Nollan v. California Coastal Commission (1987),^[23] Keller v. State Bar of California (1990),^[24] Suitum v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (1997),^[25] Palazzolo v. Rhode Island (2001),^[26] Rapanos v. United States (2006),^[27] Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky (2018)^[28] and Markle/Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (2018).^[29] PLF principal attorney Sharon L. Browne won two significant victories in the California Supreme Court, upholding the constitutionality of Proposition 209.^[30]

In 2012, PLF attorney Damien M. Schiff presented oral argument in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency before the United States Supreme Court. That case challenges EPA's practice of unilaterally asserting jurisdiction over private property without a hearing and without judicial review. In a unanimous opinion, the Court sided with PLF and the Sacketts, ruling that EPA's compliance orders are subject to immediate judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

In Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District the issue of whether the Nollan and Dolan nexus limitation and proportionality test apply to an exaction in the form of a government demand that the permit applicant make off-site improvements; and whether these same Nollan and Dolan doctrines extend to permit exactions, where the permit has been denied due to the applicant's rejection of that exaction. The Supreme Court found favor of the property owner on June 25, 2013.^[31]

PLF recently represented land owners in Markle/Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service before the United States Supreme Court. In this case the government, under the Endangered Species Act, designated private land in Louisiana as a potential “critical habitat” for the dusky gopher frog, enjoining the plaintiffs' use of the land. However, the dusky gopher frog does not inhabit the land, nor is the land currently suitable for use as its habitat. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that it cannot be a critical habitat if it is not a habitat and remanded to the 5^th Circuit to determine what is a habitat under the Act.^[32]

See Also

• Sissel v. United States Department of Health & Human Services

References

External links

• {{official|http://www.pacificlegal.org}}
• Organizational Profile – National Center for Charitable Statistics (Urban Institute)

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