On Wednesday, Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys filed a federal lawsuit challenging New York’s discriminatory treatment of out-of-state distilleries. Our client, Théron Regnier, opened his Los Angeles-based craft distillery, The Obscure, on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic and has faced more than his share of adversity. But one obstacle—shipping his spirits directly to consumers in states like New York—has always felt insurmountable. Until now.

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The Fourth Amendment protects against warrantless “searches and seizures”—including personal and business financial records.  

But a new rule under the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network will soon force title companies—like East Texas Title Co., owned by Celia Flowers and her daughter Erica Hallmark—to collect and report sensitive personal information about their clients or face potentially ruinous fines and even criminal charges. Now, Celia and Erica are fighting back.

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Last week, we filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Tempe, Arizona, challenging the constitutionality of its “special event” permitting scheme—which has effectively banned charitable groups from feeding the hungry.  

This week, PLF editorial writer Brittany Hunter has pulled back the curtain, sharing personal testimonies from our clients—Austin Davis (founder of AZ HUGS), Jane Parker (vice president of H.O.P.E. Arizona), and longtime community organizer Ron Tapscott—about what this fight truly means.

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Like the rest of the country, Rhode Island is in the thick of an affordable housing crisis. With such a desperate need for new housing, you would think that the Town of Johnston, Rhode Island, would welcome new development with open arms. But instead, the Town has taken the opposite approach. 
 
Over the past few months, Johnston officials have fought tooth and nail to block one family’s efforts to build new affordable housing—even going so far as to illegally seize the family’s property through a blatant abuse of eminent domain. PLF’s Brittany Hunter takes us inside the nightmarish ordeal, offering firsthand accounts from the family targeted by overzealous Town officials.

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On Tuesday, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of Dr. Kent Wildern—a Michigan-based dentist with a 40-year career providing care in Grand Rapids—challenging a state mandate that requires healthcare professionals to undergo implicit bias training to maintain their licenses. 

At issue: It is blatantly unconstitutional for Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) to weaponize its powers, forcing hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals to choose between their careers and submitting to ideological indoctrination. To make a bad situation worse, LARA’s mandate was issued by unelected bureaucrats—with no opportunity for public debate.

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