Photo of Robert H. Thomas

Robert H. Thomas

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Yes, the mysterious ducks remain — and seem to have multiplied.

It’s that time of the year again. Fall’s-a-coming, and that means that starting today, we’re back at the William and Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia to lead two courses:

  • Eminent Domain and Property Rights (W&M is one of the few law schools

Check this out, a recently-filed cert petition asking whether, in order to sue for compensation for a taking, the government must first affirmatively provide a cause of action (an issue recently left unanswered by the U.S. Supreme Court). That’s an issue we’ve been following closely (our outfit recently filed this cert petition also). 

This

Be sure to read the entirety of Lawprof Ilya Somin’s recent post on Volokh,Federal Appellate Court Rules in Favor of Takings Lawsuit Against the CDC’s Covid-Era Eviction Moratorium.”

There, he analyzes the Federal Circuit’s recent 2-1 opinion in Darby Dev. Co., Inc. v. United States, No. 22-1929 (Aug. 7, 2024) (we

Here’s the latest in the solved-but-not-quite-solved issue of whether the government can keep the surplus which remains after a tax-foreclosure sale (see Tyler v. Hennepin County), the Michigan Supreme Court’s opinion in Schafer v. Kent County, No. 164975 (July 29, 2024), where the court concluded that its earlier decision in Rafaeli v. Oakland

You remember that old adage (or maybe its a cliché?) that “a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged?” Well, here’s your environmentalist analog.

In Echeverria v. Town of Tubridge, No. 23-AP-291 (Aug. 2, 2024), the Vermont Supreme Court held that property owners’ lawsuit asserting their right to prohibit the town

Screenshot 2024-08-09 at 09-59-51 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference 2024 Tickets Williamsburg Eventbrite

Come join us in Williamsburg, Virginia at the William and Mary Law School for the 21st edition of the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference. The Conference is unique, because its express purpose is to bring property legal scholars and property law practitioners together to discuss, what else, property and property rights law.

Yes, there’s a

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This one is a must-read.

In Darby Dev. Co., Inc. v. United States, No. 22-1929 (Aug. 7, 2024), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the Court of Federal Claims should not have dismissed Darby’s complaint for failure to state a physical invasion takings claim.

The short takeaways:

  • Takings claims

Check this out, the latest takings cert petition from the Pacific Legal Foundation shop.

Since this is one of ours (our colleague Chris Kieser is in the lead), we’re not going into too much detail, but will say that this involves ripeness in a regulatory takings claims, a topic we’ve been focused on a

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If you are in the California Southland (or plan to be in the next week), please be sure to reserve on your calendar Tuesday, August 13, 2024, to join us in-person for the launch of our colleague Jim Burling‘s forthcoming book, “Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Story of America’s Housing Crisis.”

Screenshot 2024-07-31 at 17-33-40 The End of Means-End Scrutiny by Francesca Procaccini SSRN

Here’s an article worth reading, just posted to SSRN, Procaccini, The End of Means-End Scrutiny (July 29, 2024).

For your takings and individual liberty nerds, please focus on pages 36-38 (showing how takings analysis is not accomplished by the usual means-ends scrutiny), pages 40-42 (social and economic liberties), and pages 43-44 (searches and seizure).

Why