The Fifth Circuit dismissed solid waste disposal companies' claims that local solid waste flow control ordinances violate the Commerce Clause. The companies lack standing to claim that the ordinances are facially discriminatory against out-of-state interests. The ordinances prohibit the export of an...

The Ninth Circuit upheld an individual's misdemeanor conviction for using National Forest System land in a gathering of over 75 other persons without a special-use permit. The conviction did not violate his First Amendment rights because the group-use permit scheme leaves open ample alternatives for...

The Federal Circuit affirms a lower court decision finding property owners' takings claim against the National Marine Fisheries Service unripe. The owners sought to harvest redwood trees on their property. After learning that the cost of an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species A...

The Federal Claims Court holds that landowners are not entitled to just compensation under the Fifth Amendment in their action against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) for requiring them to set aside a portion of their property as mitigation wetlands in exchange for a §404 permit to...

The Seventh Circuit held that the state of Illinois would be violating the U.S. Constitution if it confiscated any part of a clean energy foundation's assets. After the state legislature passed an authorizing statute, the foundation was created out of the profits from a private company's sale of sev...

The Fourth Circuit held that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspectors who took wastewater samples at a mill are entitled to qualified immunity. The owner of the mill had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the wastewater under the circumstances shown in the record and therefore had no Fou...

The Ninth Circuit held that California's air pollution control districts are not arms of the state and therefore are not entitled to sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment. To determine whether an entity is an arm of the state, the Ninth Circuit uses a five-point test that looks at whether ...

The Federal Circuit reversed a lower court decision that the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) produced a physical taking of a company's mineral rights. In 1937, the company sold the surface rights of land in the Daniel Boone National Forest to the United States but it retained the ...

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of residents' lawsuit against the Dallas Housing Authority seeking to enjoin it from constructing public housing in their community. The decision to build does not violate the residents' right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. The authority ...

A district court dismissed property owners' takings, substantive due process, and equal protection claims against a city after the city denied the owners' request for building permits. The owners' takings claim was dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The owners did not adequately seek...