A family is forced to pay a fee or give up land; Boston parents want the Supreme Court to revisit racial balancing in high school admissions; and a single mother fights for just compensation. 

Here’s what’s on The Docket.

Lawsuit filed: California family fights ‘inclusionary housing’ requirement 

The City of Healdsburg, California, has an “inclusionary housing” ordinance: If you want to build new housing, you must either give land to the city for affordable housing or pay a $20,134.75 fee. That’s a brutal requirement for people like the Pillings, a young family that’s outgrowing their duplex and plans to build a new home on their property. Now the Pillings are suing, with PLF’s help. 

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Supreme Court should revisit racial equity in high-school admissions

Racial balancing in competitive high school admissions may be heading back to the Supreme Court. Just months after the Court declined to take up a parent group’s challenge to the admissions overhaul at then-top-ranked Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology in Virginia, another set of parents is waging a similar battle to save Boston’s venerable “Exam Schools.” As PLF senior attorney Chris Kieser explains in National Review, the parents have given the Court good reason to take up the issue. 

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A single mother is asking the Michigan Supreme Court for the just compensation she is owed

Because of PLF’s years-long fight against home equity theft, victims who’ve lost their equity in tax foreclosures now have the law on their side. But some states are still making it difficult for homeowners to reclaim what was stolen. Home equity theft victim Chelsea Koetter is asking the state supreme court to consider her case, in which her home was seized and sold at auction for $106,000 over a $3,800 tax debt.

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In SEC v. Jarkesy, the Supreme Court restored core 7th amendment protections  

In June’s Jarkesy decision, the Supreme Court held that the Seventh Amendment guarantees a civil jury trial for those targeted by the government. To critics, the Jarkesy decision is a dangerous novelty that will upend the administrative state. But PLF attorneys Oliver Dunford and Adi Dynar say the Court simply restored the Seventh Amendment to its proper place.  

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Tornado forecasting was banned in the U.S. for 60 years. Why?

Here’s a bizarre piece of American trivia: From 1887 to 1950, the U.S. government banned the word “tornado” from weather forecasts. Warning the public about possible tornadoes would cause panic, officials said. It was better to avoid the word altogether.  

The story about the ban—and the man for whom it was designed—is a cautionary tale about what happens when the government stops innovation out of fear.

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Why a Florida fishing company is challenging the Fishery Management Council

The Constitution’s Appointments Clause requires the president and the Senate to appoint federal officials to ensure they remain accountable to the people’s elected representatives. The Appointments Clause is supposed to prevent unelected bureaucrats, like the Fishery Management Council, from enacting rules that individuals are powerless to challenge, PLF attorney Adam Griffin explains. But the council has been doing exactly that—and a family-owned fishing company is fighting back.

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PLF wins 2024 Atlas Network’s North American Liberty Award

The Atlas Network—which recognizes nonprofits around the world for achievements in liberty—has given PLF the North American Liberty Award for our work to defeat home equity theft. “America’s property owners are lucky to have Pacific Legal Foundation on their side,” Atlas CEO Brad Lips said.  

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