Pacific Legal Foundation

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Pacific Legal Foundation is a non-profit public interest legal organization devoted to litigation primarily in the areas of property rights, environmental law, and racial preferences.^[1] Established March 5, 1973,^[2] PLF is the oldest conservative/libertarian^[3] public interest law foundation in the United States,^[4] with the mission of providing free legal representation and filing friend of the court (amicus curiae) briefs focusing on regulatory takings, eminent domain, California's Proposition 209, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and other important legal matters involving free markets and private property rights.

PLF has been involved in many important cases before the United States Supreme Court and other courts. PLF’s significant Supreme Court victories include Nollan v. California Coastal Commission (1987)^[5], Suitum v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (1997)^[6], Palazzolo v. Rhode Island (2001)^[7], and Rapanos v. United States (2006)^[8].^[9] PLF also won a significant victory in the California Supreme Court case, Hi-Voltage Wire Works v. San Jose (2000), upholding the constitutionality of Proposition 209.^[10]

Aside from litigation, PLF also operates a Program for Judicial Awareness,^[11] which prepares scholarly articles for legal publications and operates an annual essay competition for law students.