Testimony On Takings Of Private Property

July 6, 2005

Testimony by the Foundation’s economic freedom policy analyst on “Takings of Private Property” (eminent domain) and how Texans are affected by the recent Supreme Court decision.

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Michael Petrick v. City of Austin

Date Filed: July 27, 2026 Original Court: Western District of Texas, Austin Division Case Status: Active Litigation Case Summary: In August 2025, Michael Petrick purchased a home on a 0.28-acre lot in Austin, Texas, in preparation for the birth of his first child. The property contained three overgrown trees. One tree was splitting and posed...

July 27, 2026

Higher Education

Safe Schools and Fair Standards

Safe Schools and Fair Standards Key points: Texas’s higher education code is not aligned with Supreme Court precedent on the correct standards for defining harassment. Texas statute does not define what makes conduct “severe,” “persistent,” or “pervasive.” The existing legal framework should remain intact but needs updated definitions that protect both free speech and students...

September 28, 2026

Property Rights

Oakland fined this couple $915,000 for preventing fires. That’s 18 times the penalty for actual arson

Imagine buying a piece of property, being ordered by the government to clear it of fire hazards, and then being handed a near-million-dollar bill by that same government for doing exactly what it asked. It sounds like a dystopian satire of bureaucratic overreach, but for Matthew Bernard and Lynn Warner, it is a harrowing legal...

August 19, 2026

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Michael Petrick v. City of Austin

Safe Schools and Fair Standards

Oakland fined this couple $915,000 for preventing fires. That’s 18 times the penalty for actual arson