For Thousands of New York City Apartment Buildings, the Math Doesn't Math
This year’s rent freeze is just the latest regulation pushing New York City’s rent-stabilized housing stock toward financial and physical collapse.
Property Rights
Nashville Considers Using Eminent Domain To Stop a Planned Data Center From Irritating Zoo Animals
The Nashville Zoo says the vibrations from next door's planned data center might negatively affect hearing-sensitive animals.
Pennsylvania's Top Court Unanimously Rejects Warrantless Searches of Private Land
The justices said the "open fields" doctrine, a sweeping exception to constitutional privacy protections, does not apply in the Keystone State.
When Is a Park Fee Unconstitutional?
Plus: San Francisco slashes affordable housing mandates, wide support for streamlining environmental review, and Mamdani's rent ripoff report.
Supreme Court Will Consider Excessive Fines Clause Asset Forfeiture Case
It will review Alaska's confiscation of a $95,000 plane arising from the pilot's illegal transportation of up to 72 cans of beer.
A Pipeline Company Seized Their Land and Left Them With a $383,000 Bill. What Will the Supreme Court Say?
Leonard Hoffmann and his neighbors in North Dakota went to court to fight for fair market value—as the Constitution promises—after WBI Energy Transmission said it would take their land at a discount.
Illinois Will Finally Stop Stripping People of Their Home Equity—3 Years After the Supreme Court Outlawed It
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill that promises property owners will receive the surplus proceeds when the government seizes their home to satisfy a tax debt.
The Supreme Court's 'Reasonable Expectation of Privacy' Test Defies Expectations
Neil Gorsuch proposes an alternative to a Fourth Amendment standard that has proven to be an unreliable safeguard against government snooping.
Europe, A.C., and the Housing Exception to America's Economic Success Story
Plus: L.A. criminally charges contractors offering to build an ADU in the Palisades, South Carolina streamlines squatter removal, and a Florida city uses eminent domain to thwart state housing law.
Neil Gorsuch Urges Supreme Court To Correct 2 Wrong Turns That Undermined Civil Liberties
The justice criticizes the Court’s endorsement of coercive plea bargaining and its embrace of dubious Fourth Amendment doctrines.
In Chatrie, Neil Gorsuch Reiterates His Critique of 2 Dubious Fourth Amendment Doctrines
The justice argues that the "reasonable expectation of privacy" test and the third-party doctrine are indefensible in theory and unworkable in practice.
Federalist Society Courthouse Steps Podcast on Pung v. Isabella County Takings Case
I took part along with Deborah La Fetra of the Pacific Legal Foundation (who helped litigate the case).
Guns, Property Rights, and the Second Amendment
The government cannot force private property owners to allow guns on their land. But the Supreme Court rightly ruled today that it also cannot impose a presumption of exclusion.
SCOTUS Overturns Hawaii's Default Rule Against Guns on Private Property Open to the Public
The decision means similar laws in other states likewise violate the Second Amendment, and it casts doubt on the constitutionality of location-specific gun bans that cover a lot of territory.
Fair Market Value Compensation for Takings is Often too Little, not too Much
Fair market value often fails to fully compensate property owners for their losses. This makes the Supreme Court's recent decision allowing compensation below fair market value even worse.
The Government Seized Their $195,000 Home Over a $2,242 Debt. What Does the Supreme Court Say They're Owed?
The Pung family of Isabella County, Michigan, maintained they were entitled to fair market value. The high court disagreed, but with a twist.
Supreme Court Issues Terrible Takings Decision in Pung v. Isabella County
The Court ruled that local goverments may pay compensation far below fair market value for property seized in tax foreclosures.
The War on Economic Growth Is a War on the Poor
No poor country has ever achieved decent living standards without first getting richer.
Texas Landowners Face a Difficult Decision: Allow Border Wall or Lose Right to Property
Recent reporting from The Texas Tribune details shocking accounts of government overreach against landowners along the southern border.
Why You Can't Settle Mars or Colonize the Moon Without Real Property Rights
The Outer Space Treaty and other legal obstacles could block our sci-fi future.
My New Washington Post Op ed on NYC Mayor Mamdani's Unconstitutional Housing Policy
His plan to expropriate rental housing violates the Takings Clause, and would exacerbate the City's housing crisis rather than alleviate it.
Bernie Sanders' Dangerous and Unconstitutional Plan to Expropriate AI Firms
The plan to seize 50% of AI firms' stock violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. It would also create dangerous government control over a vital industry, in ways similar to Trump's policies.
California Conservatives Champion 'Local Control' Until They Dislike the Results
Conservatives want local control over housing policy, but they're happy to let the state restrict when local governments can raise taxes.
5 Bills Signed by Wes Moore That Will Impact Housing and AI Development in Maryland
Couched with good intentions, new laws aimed at housing and artificial intelligence development will add more layers of red tape to Maryland’s growing bureaucracy.
250 Years Later, Benjamin Franklin's Warning Is Still Relevant
He famously said the Founders had created "a republic, if you can keep it." How have we kept it? And can we continue?
What I Learned Shadowing California's Katana-Wielding Anti-Squatter Enforcers
California's failure to eject squatters from the properties they've seized undermines the state's new housing laws.
Samurai vs. Squatters: On the Street With the Hired Swords Reclaiming California Property Owners' Stolen Homes
California has failed to protect private property from squatters. Desperate owners are turning to katana-wielding enforcers to reclaim their homes.
Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Alvin Roth on Organ Markets
Roth explains why legalizing kidney sales can save lives.
Is the California Coastal Commission Finally Losing Some of Its Regulatory Powers?
The commission has tormented property owners and localities ever since it was created in 1976. Finally, legislative and legal efforts are undoing some of its abuses.
Important Takings Challenge to Los Angeles Historic Preservation Law "Monument" Designation
Historic preservation laws often violate constitutional property rights, and block construction of new housing.
A SCOTUS Case Exposes the Dangers of 2 Misguided Fourth Amendment Doctrines
"Geofence" searches illustrate the perilous combination of modern technology and deference to law enforcement.
Innocent Property Owners Deserve 'Just Compensation' When Cops Wreck Their Homes or Businesses
Two petitions ask the Supreme Court to uphold the remedy required by the Fifth Amendment.
New Book Chapter on "The Right to Use Private Property"
It argues that the right to use property is central to both the value of property rights generally, and the property rights protected by the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Seattle University "Dean's Luminaries in Law" Interview on Immigration, Invasion, the Tariff Case, and More
I was interviewed by Seattle University Law School of Law Dean Tony Varona and Prof. Andrew Siegeil.
Mamdani's 'Rental Ripoff' Hearings Won't Fix New York Housing
Demonizing landlords might make for good social media, but it does nothing to reduce the regulations that make New York housing so expensive.
Thoughts on the Supreme Court Oral Argument in the Pung v. Isabella County Takings Case
Most of the discussion was focused on the wrong issue. What matters under the Takings Clause is not the "fairness" of the process by which the owner's house was taken, but whether he got adequate "just compensation."
Peru's Marxist President Changes His Mind, Doesn't Make Hernando de Soto Prime Minister
The libertarian-leaning economist warns of the coming “Venezuelization” of Peru.
Trump Demands Congress Ban Large Investors Owning Homes. Here's Why That's a Bad Idea.
Large investors are a small, beneficial presence in the single-family home market.
This California Family Is Suing for the Right To Drill for Oil on Their Own Property
“We’re standing up not just for ourselves, but for the principle that government must respect property rights.”
More Historical Evidence Showing that the Public Use Clause of the Fifth Amendment Does Not Allow Takings that Transfer Property to Private Parties
Harvard law Prof. Maureen Brady uncovers relevant evidence from late-nineteenth century state constitutional conventions.
Trump Issues Order Cracking Down on Corporate Homeownership
The president's order is not the comprehensive ban on large investor–owned housing that he promised. But it could still have a chilling effect on the single-family rental market.
Bureau of Land Management Says Bison Are Not Livestock, Obstructing Plans for a Huge Private Prairie Reserve
The American Prairie nonprofit seeks to create a 5,000-square-mile prairie reserve in Montana where buffalo may roam and antelope play.
SCOTUS Seems Inclined To Reject Hawaii's Default Rule Against Guns on Private Property Open to the Public
The state requires carry permit holders to obtain advance permission before bringing firearms into businesses.
Mamdani's Promise of the 'Warmth of Collectivism' Is a Lie. Just Ask All the Failed Communes.
History is very clear that property rights and capitalism are necessary for society to flourish.
Barring Institutional Investors From Buying Homes Won't Make Housing More Affordable - and Would Likely Make Things Worse
There is no evidence that institutional investors increase prices. Barring them from the market could actually exacerbate the housing crisis.
