US Supreme Court May Be Targeting California Coastal Law
Written by 991KBU on April 25, 2018
The United States Supreme Court appears poised to consider an overturn of the California Coastal Act … in a case from the Bay Area that will have enormous ramifications in Malibu and everywhere along the state’s oceanfront.
The Supreme Court has asked the Surfrider Foundation to respond to the appeal made by
Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla.
He has been ordered by California courts to reopen access to Martin’s Beach … on the San Mateo County coast … to public access.
Conservatives have been itching for an opportunity to prune back California’s landmark Coastal Act … a 1976 law passed in response to a statewide voters initiative called Proposition 20.
And the Martin’s Beach case may be used by the conservatives who control the court in a 5-to-4 block .. to overturn that law.
The San Jose Mercury newspaper reports that the U.S. Supreme Court most often simply denies appeals by people who lose in lower courts, as Khosla has.
But in a letter Thursday, it asked the Surfrider Foundation to respond to the petition Khosla filed in February.
Legal experts tell the Mercury that the move does not guarantee the conservative-leaning high court will hear the case.
But the Surfrider Foundation has been given until June 13 to answer the appeal … and that’s significant.
It indicates that the court has found issues that could be used to overturn the California courts decision reopening the beach to public access.
A ruling in Khosla’s favor could make it easier for beachfront landowners all across the country to block public access.
This story is based on reporting in the San Jose Mercury newspaper
