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2025 | Summer

The Cruel Coast

The California Coastal Commission is a shadowy force controlling the coast — and Californians are speaking out.

The California Coastal Commission’s activities are the subject of litigation that affects not only those of us in the Golden State, but also nationwide.

— Steven D. Anderson, President & CEO of Pacific Legal Foundation

what’s inside

Mystery of the Sand Dunes

Jeremy Talcott

A half-mile from the Morro Sand Dunes in Los Osos, California, in a quiet residential neighborhood—the kind of sun-kissed neighborhood where neighbors walk to each other’s houses and children play outside—sit four vacant lots. Their emptiness is conspicuously out of place; almost eerie, like a haunting.   Tim Shea, a third-generation homebuilder, owns these four empty […]

Apocalypse on the Beach

Collin Callahan

The fire alarms started around noon. By 2:30 p.m., the flames had spread from Agoura Hills, a small town in the Santa Monica mountains, to the shoreline 13 miles away.

The No Trespassing Sign

Chris Kieser

It should have been easy. Dennis and Leah Seider just needed a sign to mark their property. There are 27 miles of public beaches in Malibu, but the small stretch of sand under the Seiders’ home is not among them. The wooden house is propped up on crossbeams above the beach. A roving stranger could […]

Rockets in the Dark

Joe Luppino-Esposito

The commissioners sat at a half-circle dais, all facing a nearly empty room. Because they weren’t looking at each other, they sometimes got confused about when it was their turn to speak. “I can’t tell who’s talking,” a commissioner said at one point.  

Forget It, It’s the Coastal Commission

Jeffrey W. McCoy

The central mystery of the 1974 neo-noir film Chinatown is an imagined water heist in California: A powerful man is stealing water during a drought so that land becomes unusable (and cheap).   The mystery at the center of the Hadian case is also a California noir story, although it has shades of the TV series […]
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Stories of liberty and justice

Sword&Scales is a quarterly magazine with in-depth stories about liberty, equality, and justice. Published by Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm with a winning record at the Supreme Court, Sword&Scales features narratives from history, courtroom showdowns, and the real experiences of people fighting for their rights.

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