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2025 | Fall Issue

The West

The American West is more than a geographic region. It's a philosophy of the possible.

We will restore a moral and legal framework where land is not locked away, but activated; where science is not manipulated, but applied; and where law is not an obstacle, but a tool of empowerment.

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

what’s inside

Exploring the West 

Nicole W.C. Yeatman

John C. Frémont stood on a peak in the Rocky Mountains, dressed in buckskin. It was 1842. Frémont was a roguish Army topographer from Charleston, South Carolina, who had charm, no money, and a scandalous family history.

A Red Rock Legacy Under Threat

Megan Jenkins

When you ask Chris Heaton how he feels about the land he works on, his voice changes.   “It’s literally home,” he says simply. “It’s sacred.”  The Heaton family has been cattle ranching in the Red Rock desert region of the Utah-Arizona border for six generations. They raise calves every year and sell them in the […]

Thrown to the Wolves

Brittany Hunter

Damien M. Schiff

As the sun slips behind the mountain ridges in Sierra Valley, California, local ranchers fear their livestock won’t survive the night.   Nearly every inch of the valley’s 120,000 acres is made up of private ranches, where cattle and other livestock vastly outnumber the human residents. To the ranchers, the cattle are their livelihoods, but to […]

There Will Be Rules 

Charles Yates

Cameron Edwards wakes up with the sun every morning. His land in Logan County, Kansas, stretches over 7,000 acres purchased by his grandfather and great-grandfather. Two of Cameron’s nephews work with him. His sons do, too, when they’re home from college. The family grows corn, ranches cattle, and operates an oil well. Cameron loves it […]

John Harris, Farmer and Horse Racer

Steven D. Anderson

Midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, off I-5 on the Western edge of the San Joaquin Valley, sits Harris Farms and Harris Ranch—a spread that’s home to 100,000 cattle; cropland for tomatoes, garlic, lemons, oranges, almonds, pistachios, and wine grapes; a horse training facility; and a resort with farm-to-table cuisine.   This spread is legendary […]

The Wild History of the New West

Joseph Kast

Cecil Andrus, Secretary of the Interior in the Carter administration, stood before a room filled with members of the National Wildlife Foundation. It was 1977. A new era of government had begun.   Andrus announced he was canceling dam and other infrastructure projects “because the environmental and safety consequences are more important than dollars.”   Western states […]
The Cruel Coast
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The Cruel Coast

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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