Danger doesn’t give you three days’ notice. When threats arise, the ability to defend yourself and your loved ones must be immediate. Yet in Florida, law abiding citizens are forced…
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Formal Comment
MSLF urges EPA to justify air quality boundaries that could restrict Western energy and resource development.
MSLF is urging the Environmental Protection Agency to use reliable data and follow the law when deciding which Western communities and counties fail to meet federal air-quality standards. A decision…
Formal Comment
MSLF Files Comment, Urging Federal Agencies to Establish Clear, Consistent Rules Under the Clean Water Act
Defining the Limits of Federal Water Regulation The Issue For farmers, ranchers, energy producers, and other landowners, understanding which waters and wetlands fall under federal regulation can have significant consequences…
Formal Comment
MSLF Files Comments Supporting Southern Ute Tribe’s Oil and Gas Development
Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), through its Center for American Prosperity & Energy (CAPE), filed comments urging federal agencies to protect the Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s ability to develop its…
Formal Comment
MSLF Files Comments Supporting Oil and Gas Leasing Beneath Ouray National Wildlife Refuge
Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), through its Center for American Prosperity & Energy (CAPE), filed comments supporting a proposed amendment to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Vernal Resource Management…
Alaska Policy Forum v. Alaska Public Offices Commission, et al
When Speaking Comes at a Cost
In 2020, the Alaska Policy Forum (APF), a nonprofit research organization, published educational materials about ranked-choice voting. APF was doing what public-interest organizations do every day: researching an issue, informing…
Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Environmental Protection Agency and Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. Environmental Protection Agency
Can EPA Change the Rules Without Doing Its Homework?
Imagine spending years planning a mine, a sawmill, an energy project, or another major investment in your community. You have the land, resources, and the workers. You have invested time…
Association for Education Fairness v. Montgomery County Board of Education
Equal Protection Means Equal Treatment
For more than 40 years, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) operated some of the most competitive magnet programs in the country. Admission was straightforward: students were evaluated based on their…
Department of the Interior, et al. v. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation, et al., J.R. Simplot Company, LLC v. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation
Ninth Circuit Decision Threatens Responsible Natural-Resource Development Across the West
For decades, the federal government has relied on land exchanges to manage public lands, consolidate fragmented ownership, support local communities, protect valuable natural resources, improve public access, and advance other…
Save the Bull Trout and Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. U.S. Department of the Interior and West Side Ditch Company
When Protecting a Fish Threatens a Family Legacy: Defending Montana Ranchers’ Right to Use Their Water
For generations, Montana families have relied on the waters of the Upper Clark Fork River to grow hay, care for livestock, and keep their ranches alive. In the high desert…
Formal Administrative Comment
MSLF Urges SEC to Rescind Climate Disclosure Rules That Exceeded Its Authority
What started as a rule for publicly traded companies had the potential to affect businesses across America. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) 2024 climate-disclosure rules would have required public…
Pearlstein v. Raoul
72 Hours Too Long
For Gayle Pearlstein, the importance of self-defense is not an abstract principle discussed in history books or debated in courtrooms. It is deeply personal. Gayle grew up around firearms. Some…
Kotis Associates, LLC, Kotis Holdings, LLC, Westover Terrace II, LLC v. Unites States
Testing the Fifth Amendment’s Promise
The Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause guarantees “just compensation” when the government takes private property. That much has been long settled. The harder question—the one at the center of this case—is how courts measure that compensation when the government…
RMS of Georgia, LLC v. Environmental Protection Agency
Courts Can’t Write a Law, Only Congress Can Do That
There’s a simple promise at the heart of our Constitution: the people we elect—members of Congress, not judges— are the ones who make the laws. This case raises a specific question about that promise: what happens when…
Erik Holt v. Florissant Fire Protection District
He Spoke Up...and Lost His Job
Case Summary Erik Holt didn’t set out to become a test case for the First Amendment. He became a firefighter because he believed in service. Over time, that commitment led him to…
Comments Supporting the Recission of the BLM’s “Conservation and Landscape Health Rule.”
Protecting Public Lands and the Rule of Law
Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), joined by several allied organizations, has submitted comments in support of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposal to rescind its 2024 Conservation and Landscape…
Knife Rights, Inc. v. Bondi
Can the Government Ban the Tools of Self-Defense?
Introduction Can the government block Americans from acquiring a common, useful self-defense tool simply because it disapproves of it? That’s the question before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Knife Rights, Inc. v. Bondi, a case…
City of Fresno v. United States
Defending Western Water Rights Against Federal Overreach
Introduction Who decides who gets to use water in the American West—the federal regulators who manage infrastructure, or the state-law water users who put it to beneficial use? That question lies at…
Regulatory Comment
Rescinding EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding: Restoring the Rule of Law and American Prosperity
In 2009, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its “finding” that greenhouse gas emissions from cars endanger human health in some indirect way. That finding was, in effect, a…
West Virginia, et al. v. B. P. J.
Biology, Not Ideology: The Fight for Sports and Free Speech
Introduction West Virginia passed a law to protect equality and safety in women’s sports by making sure competition stays separated by biological sex. This is common sense. Men and women…
Del Toro v. Polis
Weaponized Paperwork: Colorado’s New Tactic Against the Second Amendment
CASE SNAPSHOT Colorado’s new gun law (SB25-003) hides behind the guise of safety but is designed to delay—and ultimately deny—your Second Amendment rights. With most of the law already in…
Dunn v. Glass
Self-Defense On Demand: When you need a firearm for self-defense, you need it now
Danger doesn’t give you three days’ notice. When threats arise, the ability to defend yourself and your loved ones must be immediate. Yet in Florida, law abiding citizens are forced…
De Piero v. Pennsylvania State University
From the Classroom to the Courtroom: One Professor’s Stand for Equal Treatment and Free Thought
An Educator with Purpose Zack De Piero didn’t become a teacher for prestige or accolades. He did it because he believed in the power of language to change lives. From…
Repeal of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units
Public Comment: Repealing Regulations that Ignored the Constitution, Rule of Law, and Common Sense
The EPA’s greenhouse gas “performance standards” for fossil-fuel power plants didn’t just regulate emissions, they tried to force America’s fossil-fuel power plants to stop being fossil-fuel power plants. Energy providers…
Joshua A. Diemert v. City of Seattle
Discrimination in the Name of "Equity" is Wrong and Unconstitutional
Joshua Diemert worked for the City of Seattle when the city rolled out its sweeping “Race and Social Justice Initiative” (RSJI). While advertised as a workplace training program, RSJI was…
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