A district court granted in part and denied in part an outdoor recreation group's motion to preliminarily enjoin the National Park Service's (NPS') regulations governing commercial filming on public lands. The group argued the regulations' land use fee and permitting requirements violated the First ...

The Fifth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a constitutional challenge brought by a pipeline company concerning a 1949 permit a local levee board granted to the company to construct and maintain two pipelines across a levee in Mayersville, Mississippi. The company argued the board violated the Contracts...

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the Takings Clause does not distinguish between legislative and administrative land use permit conditions, in a lawsuit concerning a traffic impact fee as a condition of building a prefabricated home on a parcel of land. The landowner challenged the fee a...

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that Texas property owners should be permitted to pursue claims under the Takings Clause through an inverse-condemnation cause of action available under Texas law. Over 120 property owners argued that a Texas highway elevation and expansion project, which buil...

A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for a conservation group in a challenge to the National Park Service's (NPS') delayed implementation of a marine reserve zone and commercial fishing phaseout in Biscayne National Park in Florida. The group argued NPS violated the A...

A district court denied outdoor recreation groups' request to halt implementation of BLM's 2023 travel management plan (TMP) closing over 300 miles of routes previously available for off-highway vehicle use on public lands within the Labyrinth/Gemini Bridges Travel Management Area in Utah. The group...

The Fourth Circuit reversed a district court order abstaining from ruling on constitutional claims brought by mineral interest owners challenging amendments to West Virginia's oil and gas conservation law. Plaintiffs argued the amendments, which for the first time authorized "unitization of interest...

The Eighth Circuit reversed a district court ruling in a challenge to Iowa's "ag gag" law that criminalizes undercover investigations at agricultural production facilities. Initially, the law prohibited the facilities from being accessed under false pretenses as well as prohibited false statements o...

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a splintered 5-4 decision, affirmed dismissal of a constitutional challenge to a California law that forbids in-state sale of pork meat from breeding pigs that are "confined in a cruel manner." Out-of-state pork producers challenged the law on dormant Commerce Clause groun...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the U.S. government in a challenge to President Obama's issuance of a proclamation expanding the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southwestern Oregon. A timber company argued the proclamation was an invalid exercise of the Antiquities Act because ...