Good morning. Property owners are having trouble evicting unwelcome squatters, states are trying to revive home equity theft after the Supreme Court struck it down, and the Los Angeles Zoo is hiring interns based on race. Here’s what’s on The Docket. 
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Why are ‘squatters’ taking over private property? 

Squatters are moving into homes and apartments across the country, emboldened by TikTokers and bloggers who teach people how to exploit laws that make eviction difficult. PLF attorney Mark Miller joined Fox & Friends to explain how certain cities and states have allowed squatting to get out of control by mistakenly treating squatters like tenants. Mark also penned a guide to squatters’ rights that includes tips for property owners to protect themselves.

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These states are trying to bring back home equity theft  

Last year PLF defeated home equity theft at the Supreme Court: All nine Justices agreed in Tyler v. Hennepin County that the government can’t take more than is owed when seizing homes to satisfy property tax debts. That should mean the end of home equity theft—but as states reform their laws to comply with the decision, some are doing a better job than others. While Wisconsin and Idaho banned home equity theft this month, Arizona and Minnesota are setting up loopholes that would allow the government to keep stealing homes. 

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Stop hiring interns based on race, PLF tells Los Angeles Zoo  

The Los Angeles Zoo—which is owned by the City of Los Angeles and receives 1.8 million visitors per year—has a paid internship program that is “specifically available to applicants who identify as Black, Indigenous, people of color, people with varying abilities, and/or the LGBTQIA+ communities.” PLF attorneys sent a letter to the zoo last week, pointing out that its discriminatory program likely violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, as well as national and state civil rights laws. 

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Discourse: The end of Chevron Deference 

In January, the Supreme Court heard two cases that, according to Vox’s Ian Millhiser, “ask the justices to seize control of much of federal policy-making.” NPR similarly warned that the Supreme Court “could eviscerate the way the federal government regulates, well, everything.” That sounds bad! 

But those pieces and a wave of similar commentary rely on caricatures of our judicial system. PLF attorney Molly Nixon explains the truth: The cases before the Court are about how judges resolve disputes between Americans and their government.  

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The Road to Serfdom turns 80 

F. A. Hayek’s classic book was conceived against the backdrop of two devastating back-to-back wars—one in the not-so-distant past and the other ongoing—and a crippling global depression. With such widespread unease, Keynesian economics and socialism gave people false hope. The Road to Serfdom was a wake-up call, especially its message on private property rights.

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Yahoo News: Legal experts raise alarm on President Biden’s ‘plan B’ student loan handout  

After the Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s attempt to cancel roughly $500 billion in student loan debt, Biden’s administration is trying Plan B: a piecemeal approach using existing Department of Education programs. “They’ve become more careful,” PLF attorney Michael Poon says. “But many parts of their student loan cancelation efforts are still unlawful in the same way. They still are not authorized by statutes that Congress has passed. It’s really just loan cancelation by another name.”  

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