The Ninth Circuit panel summarizes its decision:
A Latin cross sits atop a prominent rock outcropping known as “Sunrise Rock” in the Mojave National Preserve (“Preserve”). Our court previously held that the presence of the cross in the Preserve—which consists of more than 90 percent federally-owned land, including the land where the cross is situated—violates…
Charley Foster at Planet Kauai has written up the details of the Superferry TRO hearing on Kauai. Check it out.
Update: Here’s his detailed report. The critical issues appears to be the 120-day statute of repose to institute challenges under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 343-7(a):
The plaintiffs seemed to view themselves as…
In “How Eminent Should Domain Be?,” the NY Times writes about an official in a Westchester County town who understands the connection between property rights and constitutional rights, especially in the involuntary taking of property by the government:
The United States Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that a governmentcould use eminent domain to…
Over at his blog Raising Islands, recently-retired Honolulu Advertiser environmental reporter Jan TenBruggencate posts his analysis of the Hawaii Supreme Court opinion in the Hawaii Superferry EIS case. Worth a read.
A recent editorial in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Fighting Goliath,” has been brought to our attention:
Every once in a great while, government, as a land-grabbing Goliath,gets thumped by the most diminutive David, especially when the formerfails to follow its own policies.
That may cost Philadelphia $497,230 in damages, plus the plaintiffs’ legal fees.…
Now, the tight connection between public use and zoning issues becomesclear. Any local government that uses heavy zoning restrictions courtspublic use fiascos down…
The Maui News reports that Maui’s “workforce housing” ordinance has been challenged:
Lawyers for a Canadian condominium developer, who is seeking to buildtwo multiunit projects in the Kamaole area, are seeking a court orderto block the county from implementing the law that the developer saysis defective.
The lawsuit alleges the housing policy adopted by the
…
The Ninth Circuit recently decided Vacation Village, Inc. v. Clark County, No. 05-16173 (July 23, 2007), a case that has just about everything in terms of regulatory takings issues in federal court: the Penn Central standard for regulatory takings, Williamson County ripeness, Rooker-Feldman, exhaustion of administrative remedies, federal preemption, choice of law under…
In The Access Fund v. United States Dep’t of Agriculture, No. 05-15585 (Aug. 27, 2007), the Ninth Circuit upheld the prohibition by the US Forest Service of recreational rock climbing at the culturally and religiously significant Cave Rock on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe. The rock is many things to many people:
To…
