Do you remember high school? Do those memories include eating cookies from charity bake sales held by student groups, a candy bar from the vending machine while you were waiting for the bus, or (heaven forbid) a soda after football practice? Times have changed. Recent additions to the Code of Federal Regulations require that schools… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Appeals
If Proposition 218 is a Straight Jacket, Does that Make California’s Taxing Habits Crazy?
The phrase “never let a crisis go to waste” has been attributed to various political Prop 218 thinkers over the years. The general idea behind the quote is that the people will allow the government to do all manner of things in a crisis that they might otherwise oppose. Thus, if you’re the type of… Read more »
Appeals Lawyers Analyze Shelby County v. Holder and the Constitutionality of Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act
Two weeks ago several US congressmen put forward a bill to implement a modified version of Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act. The bill is an explicit response to last year’s supreme court ruling in Shelby County v. Holder striking down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act as unconstitutional. Given the controversy and… Read more »
9th Circuit Court of Appeals to Decide a Major Occupational Licensing Case
The Ninth Circuit will soon have the opportunity to decide whether occupational licensing applicants must submit to all licensing procedures and be denied a license before they can challenge the constitutionality of those procedures in court. The facts of the case are fairly straightforward. Maurice Underwood wants to run a moving truck company in… Read more »
Kassouni Law Victory Featured in the News
Kassouni Law’s recent landmark property rights victory is featured in the news: Alameda County pays almost $2 million to Castro Valley company after losing lawsuit By Rebecca Parr The Daily Review Posted: 12/16/2013 03:35:11 PM PST Updated: 12/16/2013 04:46:27 PM PST CASTRO VALLEY — Alameda County has been ordered to pay almost… Read more »
Supreme Court to Determine the Constitutionality of the Federal Government’s “Rails to Trails” Land Grab
Under the “Rails to Trails” program, the Federal government has begun converting abandoned railroad tracks into hiking and biking trails for the public. While this may seem like a noble endeavor, there is one major problem: the land the trails run through doesn’t belong to the federal government. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century when… Read more »
U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Whether Private Home Assistants Can be Compelled to Join a Union Against Their Will
This term the US Supreme Court will have the opportunity to decide whether the state can force private home assistants to join a public employee union. Recently, the Court agreed to hear arguments from appeal lawyers in Harris v Quinn. That case challenges the constitutionality of an Illinois executive order that declared personal home assistants (i.e…. Read more »
Kassouni Law Prompts Court Decision Changing California Constitutional Property Rights Law
San Francisco, CA August 26, 2013 On August 21, 2013 the California Supreme Court let stand a precedent setting, landmark property rights decision issued by the Court of Appeal which has changed property rights law. Business and property owners now have added Constitutional protection from project development delays and overzealous government regulation, signaling a new… Read more »
City of Tombstone petitions Supreme Court to protect its right to access water
The historic city of Tombstone, Arizona is in a fight for its very existence. In 2011, a large wildfire followed by record flooding severely damaged canals and other infrastructure which the City has owned and depended on for water since the time of Wyatt Earp. As a result, both the City and Arizona Governor Jan… Read more »
A Brief Primer on Constitutional Challenges to Occupational Licensing Laws
Over the last few decades occupational licensing has become the norm in America. It seems that just about every business one could think of requires a some type of license from the state. Even entry level businesses — such as selling lemonade or washing dogs– now require pages of applications and hundreds of dollars in… Read more »