On Tuesday, third-generation North Dakota farmer Cody Peterson filed a federal lawsuit—represented free of charge by Pacific Legal Foundation—challenging the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s reinterpretation of decades-old conservation easements. 

The FWS’s sudden decision to reinterpret a more-than-50-year-old agreement—exerting its control over millions of acres of private property—is not only wrong; it’s blatantly unconstitutional. Cody’s fighting back to ensure the federal government keeps its word, and we’re proud to have taken on his case.

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On Wednesday, PLF attorneys delivered oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a case about a six-year-old’s First Amendment rights over an allegedly “racist” drawing she gave to a classmate.  

Inspired by a recent lesson she received on the Civil Rights Movement, our client (a minor who we’ll refer to as “B.B.”) drew a picture of children holding hands, with the phrases “Black Lives Mater (sic)” and “any life,” and then gave it to a fellow classmate. B.B. would later be admonished by her elementary school principal, banned from recess, and forbidden from drawing pictures for friends.

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Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution explicitly grants Congress the power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises.” Tariffs, as a tax on imports, fall squarely within this provision. 

Despite this clear constitutional mandate, in recent decades, various statutes have been used to justify presidential tariff actions under the guise of national security or economic emergency. PLF’s Oliver Dunford and Kyle Griesinger argue that this kind of executive overreach is an unconstitutional misuse of emergency powers in trade policy.

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When property owners apply for building permits, they’re often required to pay impact fees: charges meant to offset the strain new buildings have on public resources like roads, sewers, schools, and parks. 

However, some local governments set impact fees that are excessively high or go far beyond the actual impact of a proposed project. PLF’s Kyle Sweetland shares insights from our latest report outlining the prevalence of these fees across the country—especially in California—and how they’re inextricably linked to America’s housing crisis.

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Last week, PLF attorneys filed an amicus brief in support of James Harper, an American Coinbase customer who discovered that his data—and 14,000 other customers’ data—was illegally obtained by the Internal Revenue Service through a warrantless, dragnet subpoena.  

PLF litigation fellow Amy Peikoff, one of the authors of our brief, explains the significance of James’ case and why we’re hopeful that the Supreme Court will grant review.

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