Defense of Freedom Institute, California Justice Center File Federal Civil Rights Complaint Against California Department of Education and Multiple School Districts for Title IX Violations

Stuck Under the Green Thumb of the California Environmental Quality Act

If Californians haven’t already, they’re bound to hear much more about CEQA—pronounced “SEE-kwuh” or the California Environmental Quality Act—in the coming days. Viewed as the Holy Grail of environmental policy, CEQA was signed into law by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1970 in an attempt to allow public input into large government projects. However, a half-century...

By Lance Christensen

Quantifying the Variables that Determine Our Prosperity

It is nearly impossible to read a policy document on the topic of energy or water that won’t make frequent references to carbon. In California, the race to achieve a “carbon neutral” economy by 2045 has spawned a carbon accounting industry that calculates the carbon impact of absolutely everything we do. Certain numbers have become...

By Edward Ring

New Letter to USDOE: Title IX Does Not Permit California’s Bait and Switch to Female Students

Shortly after California Justice Center and Defense of Freedom Institute filed our Title IX complaint against the California Department of Education and several school districts, the United States Department of Education (“Department”) issued a Letter of Finding of Noncompliance against the Maine Department of Education on grounds almost identical to those alleged in our complaint....

By Julie Hamill

Revive Nuclear Energy in America

The United States used to be the undisputed leader in nuclear power and still has more operating reactors than any other nation, with 94 currently in service. But in the last 35 years, only one new nuclear power plant has been built in the U.S.—Plant Vogtle in Georgia, which only recently began commercial operations. Meanwhile,...

By Edward Ring

Trump’s Education Smackdown: Shutting Down the Department of Education

Politicians are pros at promising the moon and delivering a pebble. G.K. Chesterton nailed it: when they’re out of power, they’re wizards with a plan; in power, they’re magicians at making excuses. Most folks have grown so used to this song-and-dance that they don’t bat an eye when campaign trail bravado fizzles into “meh.” Enter...

By Lance Christensen

Ignoring Role of Bass in Salmon Decline is Negligence

A March 5 “Perspective” in the Manteca Bulletin highlights a chronically underemphasized problem impacting every Californian. Bass, as editor Dennis Wyatt succinctly explains, are a “destructive, invasive species, that are a serious threat to the sustainability of the ecosystem.” Wyatt proposes a solution that has been implemented in Oregon, a bounty system. As he puts it, “The state would...

By Edward Ring

Lawsuit: University of California Systematically Discriminates Against Asian American Applicants

Were you or your child denied admission into medical school on the basis of race or ethnicity within the last 5 years? Click here to document your experience. In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 209, a state constitutional amendment that banned preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in state hiring, contracting,...

By Thomas Buckley

Los Angeles City Controller Warns of Dire Budget Concerns

Elected Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia has issued a dire warning about the city’s finances. It’s not the first time he’s been direct in the two years since he has assumed the office. He is no stranger to addressing transparency concerns, especially on the hot topic of auditing homelessness expenditures. And he’s unafraid to...

By John Moorlach

Desalination at Scale is Cost Competitive

On May 22, 2022, the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously to deny final approval for a desalination plant in Huntington Beach. It would have produced 56,000 acre feet of fresh water per year, and would have been privately financed. To describe in detail the 20 year and roughly $100 million ordeal that federal, state, regional,...

By Edward Ring

Why was a brilliant kid rejected by the University of California?

Were you or your child denied admission into medical school on the basis of race or ethnicity within the last 5 years? Click here to document your experience. Despite a 4.2 high school grade-point average, near-perfect SATs, and the fact that he founded a software company while still a high school sophomore, Stanley Zhong was rejected...

By Thomas Buckley

Can Republicans Undo the Damage of Julie Su?

Biden’s wannabe labor secretary brought one of California’s worst workforce ideas to the entire country. There’s much harrumphing in the media about President Donald Trump’s penchant for norm-busting, but he’s hardly the first to engage in it. Under President Joe Biden, the media generally cheered student loan forgiveness, talk of packing or ignoring the Supreme Court,...

By Will Swaim

Comprehensive Energy Policy Recommendations Released

In May 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom released a report, “California’s Clean Energy Transition Plan,” which provides an updated overview of the state’s official energy policy agenda. The document sets many ambitious goals, perhaps too ambitious, and its summary presents ambiguous tables that can mislead readers. In particular, on page 7 there is a table “Total...

By Edward Ring