How quickly does legal precedent take effect?

The legal system may seem ponderous at times, especially in the months—and sometimes years—waiting for a case to reach the Supreme Court.

But a Supreme Court decision can have widespread effects in the legal system within a matter of days. As Jeff McCoy writes, we need look no further than Knick v. Township of Scott, PLF’s 12th Supreme Court victory, which was handed down on June 21 and is already reshaping property rights cases nationwide.

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Five days, four panels about law, liberty, and the Constitution

Each year, many of the pre-eminent leaders in the nation’s liberty movement gather in Las Vegas for FreedomFest. PLF is privileged to work with many of these individuals and organizations throughout the year to defend freedom, but we were honored that Anastasia Boden was invited to this year’s recent FreedomFest to share our latest successes in defending liberty and justice for all.

Among the panel discussions, Anastasia discussed Rose Knick’s big Supreme Court win for property rights with Randy Barnett, Georgetown University Law Professor and the “intellectual godfather of the Obamacare challenge,” and Cato Institute’s Ilya Shapiro; the 12 worst federal laws with John Stossel; and the Federalist Society’s documentary American Craft: What Beer Can Teach Us About Well-Crafted Laws.

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The Founding Fathers of our limited government: Thomas Jefferson and the freedom of speech

It’s July 4, 1776. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

After several days of debate and revision, the Second Continental Congress voted to approve the final draft of the Declaration of Independence. Its author, Thomas Jefferson, was relieved his work passed this important test.

But as Timothy Snowball explains, Jefferson almost didn’t write the words we all learned in our history classes.

This is the final in our five-part series dedicated to exploring the lives, ideas, and contributions of the five individuals most directly responsible for the founding of the United States: James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson.

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