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THE DOCKET
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A Hawaiian rum distillery presents a unique challenge to the century-old Jones Act; California’s third-largest school district is sued over its race-based programming; and SCOTUS weighs equal protection for “majority-group” employees.
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HERE'S WHAT'S ON THE DOCKET.
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On Tuesday, Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Kōloa Rum Company—a leading distillery on the Hawaiian island of Kauai—challenging the constitutionality of the Jones Act, a relic of post-World War I economic protectionism that stands as a daily obstacle for millions of Americans.
While this isn’t the first time the Jones Act has been challenged in the century since it was passed, we’re optimistic that it could be the last.
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Fresno Unified School District serves 71,000 students across California’s San Joaquin Valley. The district offers a wide range of publicly funded supplemental educational and mentorship programs designed to help students reach their full potential. However, under the direction of administrators, some programs are only being pitched to students of preferred racial groups—denying others their constitutional right to equal opportunity under the law.
Yesterday, PLF attorneys filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the district’s race-based programming violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. It’s wrong for the government to restrict access to opportunities based on race—regardless of whether the gatekeeping is implicit or explicit.
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Buckets of ink have been spilled in recent weeks bemoaning an unelected shadow government pulling the strings on our federal agencies. While these criticisms have been largely directed at Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), PLF’s Mitchell Scacchi argues they’re missing the forest for the trees.
“The same people maligning DOGE for operating outside the three branches of government with little accountability have rarely, if ever, applied the same standards to this federal Leviathan.”
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In Teton County, Wyoming, homeowners and business owners are required to pay more than $250,000 in some cases to ‘off-set’ their supposed ‘impact’ on the availability of affordable housing.
But as PLF attorney Austin Waisanen points out in Cowboy State Daily, these “workforce housing fees” are based on junk science. They’re “a bad idea that drives up the cost of housing and unconstitutionally places the burden of other people’s housing on individual property owners.”
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Did you know that the individuals charged with regulating the United States’ marine fisheries—what you can catch, how much you can catch, and who’s allowed to catch anything in the first place—are all unconstitutionally appointed?
America’s regional fishery management councils are among the largest in the world, wielding vast regulatory authority over millions of jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in commerce. It’s time to restore their democratic accountability.
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Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, a case that could fundamentally change how workplace discrimination claims are handled in America. At issue: Should “majority-group” employees, such as white or male workers, have to provide more evidence—known legally as the “background circumstances” rule—than other workers to prove discrimination?
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas famously called the Penn Central test a “standardless standard” that “nobody—not States, not property owners, not courts, nor juries—has any idea how to apply.”
PLF senior legal fellow Ethan Blevins’ recent survey of 200+ cases in which state courts addressed regulatory takings claims found—to no one’s surprise—Justice Thomas was right.
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