Home » Issues & Cases » PLF in the Supreme Court
PLF in the Supreme Court
 PLF has made its mark as the nation’s leading freedom fighter by winning important legal precedents in state and federal courts. Because it chooses cases where constitutional rights are at risk, PLF has made repeat appearances before the United States Supreme Court—and won several major cases—a record of success unmatched by any other public interest legal organization.
Current Supreme Court Cases
Property Rights
Environmental Regulations
Individual Rights
Discrimination and Preference
Landmark Supreme Court Victories
Nollan v. California Coastal Commission (1987) One of the most important property rights decisions in the Supreme Court’s history, Nollan outlawed an egregious form of “shakedown” by land-use regulators; specifically, it said government may not condition the granting of a building permit on the landowner making some payment or surrender of property that has no connection to the impact of the proposed building project.
Keller v. State Bar of California (1990) A First Amendment case holding that a trade or professional organization to which professionals are legally bound to belong may not use their mandatory dues to fund ideologically based lobbying.
Suitum v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (1997) This ruling stopped regulators from demanding that an elderly, wheelchair-bound widow sell her minuscule transferable development rights in a nonexistent market before being able to seek judicial relief for denial of her right to build a home.
Palazzolo v. Rhode Island (2001) This ruling held that government is not relieved from its Fifth Amendment obligation to provide compensation for excessive regulations on private property merely because the property has changed hands since the regulations first took effect. PLF defended landowner Anthony Palazzolo who challenged the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council.
Rapanos v. United States (2006) This decision narrowed the scope of federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction, so that landowners who are not close to “navigable waters” may not be subjected to federal micro managing of their property.
Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education (2007) Held that school districts that voluntarily adopt student assignment plans that rely on race to determine which schools certain children may attend, violate the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution. As amicus, PLF attorneys participated as second chair at oral argument assisting Meredith’s attorney.
|